what is an optometrist

An optometrist is a healthcare professional who specializes in caring for your eyes. They examine, diagnose, and treat diseases and disorders that affect your eyes and vision. Optometrists can diagnose and treat the most common issues that affect your eyes, prescribe corrective lenses, and offer vision therapy and low-vision aids. They are not medical doctors (MD) or doctors of osteopathy (DO), but they have a doctor of optometry (OD) degree and attend optometry school instead of medical school. Optometrists complete four years of optometry school and earn a doctor of optometry (OD) degree. They can't perform eye surgery but can prescribe medications and treat eye diseases. If you need a surgical procedure, they’ll refer you to an ophthalmologist or surgeon. Optometrists and ophthalmologists are both eye care specialists, but ophthalmologists are medical doctors (MD) or doctors of osteopathy (DO) who have attended medical school and are qualified to perform surgery on your eyes