Is optometry a dying field?

0 votes
asked Jul 25, 2023 in Eye Health by Makecents (1,120 points)
Is optometry a dying field?

1 Answer

0 votes
answered Jul 25, 2023 by Coffeemomma (42,900 points)
Optometry is not a dying field and is not really going away anytime soon in the near future.

Optometrists will actually be in higher demand as the years go by and be in more demand than it has ever been before.

An optometrist is not any better than an ophthalmologist as they are different from each other and you may need one or the other or both to work on your eyes depending on your eye condition.

Ophthalmologists are medical doctors and eye doctors that specialize in the care of more complex eye disorders and also perform any eye surgery if eye surgery is needed.

An optometrist is the first line of care for eye health and perform routine eye exams, prescribe corrective eyeglasses or contact lenses and also can tell when you need to see an ophthalmologist.

An optometrist is an eye doctor who specializes in caring for the eyes and also examine, diagnose and treat diseases and disorders that affect your eyes and vision.

Opticians are technicians who fit eyeglasses, contact lenses, and other vision-correcting devices.

Optometrists examine, diagnose, and treat patients' eyes.

Ophthalmologists are eye doctors who perform medical and surgical treatments for eye conditions.

An optometrist can usually tell if you have MS through an eye exam.

An eye scan and eye exam can detect MS or debilitating neurological disease multiple sclerosis.

A common visual symptom of MS is optic neuritis — inflammation of the optic (vision) nerve.

Optic neuritis usually occurs in one eye and may cause aching pain with eye movement, blurred vision, dim vision, or loss of color vision.

For example, the color red may appear washed out or gray.

Although the symptoms can be disturbing, the best treatment may be no treatment at all.

This happens when the muscles that control eye movement are not coordinated because one or more of them is not working properly.

In MS, the problem occurs in the part of the brain that controls the nerves that go to these muscles.

People with MS may experience blindness, whether partial or full.

Advanced demyelination can destroy your optic nerve or other parts of your body responsible for vision.

This can permanently affect eyesight.

Common early signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) include:

    vision problems.
    tingling and numbness.
    pains and spasms.
    weakness or fatigue.
    balance problems or dizziness.
    bladder issues.
    sexual dysfunction.
    cognitive problems.
The most common cause for ON is inflammatory demyelination of the optic nerve.

Demyelination is a process in which the myelin is stripped off by disease.

It is believed that ON is an autoimmune process, where for some unknown reason the immune system attacks tissues of the body causing injury.

The most commonly associated ocular finding with MS is sudden onset vision loss due to optic neuritis (an inflammation of the optic nerve).

The amount of vision loss can vary, but typically ranges from 20/60 to 20/200 in the involved eye.

There's currently no cure for multiple sclerosis (MS), but medicines and other treatments can help control the condition [JJ1] and ease some of the symptoms.

Treatment for MS depends on the stage of the disease and the specific symptoms the person has.

It may include: treating relapses of MS symptoms (with steroids)

108,715 questions

117,671 answers

1,358 comments

7,058,500 users

...