WHO IS AN OPTOMETRIST?

        

       Well as you all know I am a student of Optometry in Abia State University and on gaining admission into the department of Optometry I thought an Optometrist was an Optician, so I would say its not new for someone to be ignorant about who an Optometrist is.

        Optometrists are the primary health care practitioners of the eye and visual system who provide comprehensive eye and vision care, which includes; refraction and dispensing, detection/diagnosis and management of diseases in the eye and the rehabilitation of conditions of the visual system. This the definition adopted by The World Council Optometry and World Health Organisation. This definition includes professional terms and not everyone will still quite get who an Optometrist is, that is why I will try to the best of my ability to explain further.

         An Optometrist being a primary health care practitioner of the eye means that they are mostly or always the first point of contact in eye and vision care. For instance, when you feel you can’t see properly and this is as a result of cataract, but this particular cause was unknown to you, the first person you will most likely come in contact with in the process of finding out the cause and the solution to your problem is an Optometrist, although the Optometrist will still refer you to an Ophthalmologist for cataract extraction.

          Optometrists also play their roles as primary health care practitioners of the eye in cases of ocular emergencies like a blow to the eye which is a blunt trauma or a toothpick poking the eye which may be a perforating trauma.

           Optometrists conducts comprehensive eye examinations, and this is not only measuring visual acuity (that one where you read letters or symbols off a chart), this also involves checking the state of eye tissues. With comprehensive eye examinations so many vision impairments can be avoided, because with comprehensive eye examination conditions that could cause vision impairment could be detected early even without the patient noticing any change in vision and this would enable the Optometrist to manage the condition properly.

          Optometrists also offer low vision rehabilitation services to those with low vision and to those who are blind. Some of those who we consider blind might actually have remaining sight and this can be enhanced through vision rehabilitation to improve the outcomes of their daily activities. Also people who fall under the category that would require vision rehabilitation are those that even with spectacle/contact lens correction they can’t still see properly.

           Finally, Optometrists play an important role in an individual’s general health, because they detect some systemic diseases due to their manifestation on the eyes, they treat and manage the ocular manifestations of these systemic conditions.

Now you should know that optometrists don’t just ‘give glasses’ THEY SAVE SIGHT.