Should I See an Optometrist or Ophthalmologist?

Whether it’s to get help for blur­ry vision or it’s just that time for anoth­er vision test, you know where to go: the eye doctor. 

It’s com­mon for peo­ple to sim­ply say ​“eye doc­tor,” but not every­one knows which type of eye doc­tor they need to see. 

Eye doc­tors can be either oph­thal­mol­o­gists or optometrists. They both have doc­tor­ate degrees — so they both earn the title of eye ​“doc­tor” — but they’re actu­al­ly dif­fer­ent types of doctors. 

Oph­thal­mol­o­gists are med­ical doc­tors. Just like oth­er spe­cial­ists, such as car­di­ol­o­gists and neu­rol­o­gists, they com­plete med­ical school and addi­tion­al train­ing in their field. They are licensed to per­form surgery and prac­tice medicine. 

Optometrists are health­care pro­fes­sion­als with doc­tor­ate degrees, but they are not med­ical doc­tors. Unlike oph­thal­mol­o­gists, they do not attend med­ical school. How­ev­er, this doesn’t mean that they don’t go through rig­or­ous train­ing and edu­ca­tion. After com­plet­ing 2 to 4 years of col­lege-lev­el edu­ca­tion, they attend optom­e­try school for 4 years and become a Doc­tor of Optometry. 

Both types of providers share sim­i­lar skills and respon­si­bil­i­ties, so it can be a lit­tle con­fus­ing if you’re not sure which one to go to. 

Here are 5 eye health sit­u­a­tions — and which type of eye care provider can give you the best care. 

1. When you need a vision test or rou­tine care 

For pri­ma­ry vision care, you can see either an optometrist or an oph­thal­mol­o­gist. But, in most cas­es, if you don’t have a com­plex eye dis­ease, an optometrist is usu­al­ly a safe bet. 

Optometrists are experts at pri­ma­ry care needs for your eyes. These include ​“every­day” eye care, such as: 

• Per­form­ing rou­tine eye exams to look for prob­lems with your vision and signs of injury or dis­ease in your eyes 
• Pre­scrib­ing glass­es or con­tact lenses 
• Pre­scrib­ing med­ica­tions for some eye dis­eases (only in cer­tain states, includ­ing Illinois) 
• Refer­ring patients to specialists

In addi­tion, optometrists can find signs of oth­er poten­tial health prob­lems, from high blood pres­sure to diabetes. 

2. When you need care for a more com­plex eye condition 

Oph­thal­mol­o­gists are qual­i­fied to do the same types of rou­tine care as optometrists. But as providers who have gone through med­ical school and 12 to 14 years of train­ing and edu­ca­tion, they have addi­tion­al qualifications. 

Beyond pri­ma­ry vision care, oph­thal­mol­o­gists can diag­nose and treat a wider range of eye con­di­tions than optometrists. Many oph­thal­mol­o­gists become sub­spe­cial­ists, mean­ing they com­plete extra train­ing in spe­cif­ic areas. Some of the main sub­spe­cial­ties are: 

• Glau­co­ma (a group of eye dis­eases where the nerve at the back of your eye — the optic nerve — is dam­aged and caus­es vision loss) 
• Reti­na (a lay­er of tis­sue in the back of your eye) 
• Cornea (the clear out­er lay­er that sits at the front of your eye) 

• Ocu­lo-plas­tic surgery (pro­ce­dures to repair prob­lems with struc­tures around the eye­ball as well as injec­tions near the eyes for cos­met­ic purposes) 
• Neu­rol­o­gy (treat­ing con­di­tions that have to do with how your brain and eyes inter­act, such as mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis, thy­roid eye dis­ease, brain tumors, or stroke)

Ques­tions about your eye health? Sched­ule an appoint­ment with a Duly Health and Care oph­thal­mol­o­gist.

3. When you have diabetes 

Dia­betes is the main cause of pre­ventable blind­ness in the US. 

One of the main eye prob­lems that can arise from dia­betes is dia­bet­ic retinopa­thy. This is when high lev­els of blood sug­ar dam­age the blood ves­sels in your reti­na, which can then result in vision loss. 

It’s rec­om­mend­ed that peo­ple with dia­betes get a com­plete dilat­ed eye exam (an exam where your eye doc­tor widens your pupils to look at the back of your eyes) once a year to look for ear­ly signs of dia­betes-relat­ed eye con­di­tions like dia­bet­ic retinopa­thy. Since this is a more rou­tine exam, you can see either an optometrist or ophthalmologist. 

How­ev­er, once you have been diag­nosed with a dia­betes-relat­ed eye con­di­tion, you will like­ly need to see an oph­thal­mol­o­gist — espe­cial­ly if the dis­ease is severe. Dia­bet­ic eye dis­eases are seri­ous and can cause per­ma­nent vision loss or blind­ness if they aren’t treat­ed. An oph­thal­mol­o­gist with spe­cial train­ing can pro­vide more advanced treat­ment than an optometrist, includ­ing surgery. 

(And of course, you should keep work­ing with your pri­ma­ry care provider or endocri­nol­o­gist on keep­ing your blood sug­ar in check.) 

Ready for your annu­al dia­bet­ic eye exam? Sched­ule with a Duly optometrist today. 

4. When you need eye surgery 

An optometrist may rec­om­mend look­ing into surgery, but they can’t actu­al­ly per­form it. For that, you will need to see an oph­thal­mol­o­gist. Here are some com­mon eye surg­eries that oph­thal­mol­o­gists perform: 

• Cataract surgery removes a cataract — a cloudy area in your eye’s nat­ur­al lens that makes it dif­fi­cult to see clear­ly — and replaces it with an arti­fi­cial lens. 
• Corneal trans­plant removes part of your cornea and replaces it with donor tissue. 
• Glau­co­ma surg­eries remove pres­sure from your eyes to pro­tect vision and pre­vent fur­ther damage. 
• Reti­na surg­eries repair a reti­na that has been dam­aged or has become detached. 

Also read: ​“10 Ways to Main­tain Your Eye Health”

5. When you have sud­den vision loss or changes in vision 

See an oph­thal­mol­o­gist as soon as pos­si­ble — or skip the eye doc­tor and head straight to the emer­gency room. 

Sud­den vision loss is when vision changes devel­op with­in just a few min­utes to a few days. The loss can be par­tial or com­plete, and can be in one or both eyes. It is con­sid­ered a med­ical emer­gency and may be due to:

• Reti­nal artery occlu­sion (eye stroke that’s caused by block­age in your retina’s arter­ies, and that can increase your risk for hav­ing a stroke in the brain) 
• Reti­nal vein occlu­sion (a block­age in the small veins that are respon­si­ble for car­ry­ing blood away from your retina) 
• Stroke or tran­sient ischemic attack (a tem­po­rary blood flow block­age to your brain that is some­times con­sid­ered a ​“warn­ing stroke”) 
• Reti­nal detach­ment (your reti­na is pulled away from the back of your eye, poten­tial­ly caus­ing per­ma­nent vision loss)

Depend­ing on the cause of your vision loss, you may need to see addi­tion­al spe­cial­ists. For instance, if your sud­den vision loss was caused by a stroke, your provider might refer you to a neu­ro-oph­thal­mol­o­gist (an oph­thal­mol­o­gist who spe­cial­izes in vision loss due to a neu­ro­log­i­cal problem). 

No mat­ter which spe­cial­ist you see, pay atten­tion to your eyes and vision, and get them checked reg­u­lar­ly. Eye care doesn’t just help you see bet­ter — it helps pre­vent vision loss in the future and can be a win­dow into your over­all health.