girlscallmepogi said:
I searched and couldn't find too much info, but what do ophthalmologists do, besides surgery, that optometrists can't?
I hear the residency for basic ophthalmologist(no two year specialty) is only three years, and optometry school is four years, yet the ophthalmologist can do more.
Thanks.
I'm sure that others will have comments, but here are a few key points:
1) Ophthalmologists are medical doctors (M.D.'s), who like other physicians, may prescribe all drugs via all routes and perform procedures and surgery. Ophthalmology is a surgical specialty (much like Otolaryngology, Orthopedic Surgery, Urology, etc). The ability to perform surgery is NOT a minor distinction. Ophthalmologists spend much of their time in the operating room and seeing pre-op and post-op patients, and much of the Ophthalmology Residency is focused on surgical training.
2) An Ophthalmologist specializes in all aspects of eye care, including diagnosis, management, and surgery of ocular diseases and disorders. Optometry traditionally involves examining the eye for the purpose of prescribing and dispensing corrective lenses and screening vision to detect certain eye abnormalities.
3) Ophthalmologists have attended 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, completed a full-year medical or surgical internship, and complete a 3-year ophthalmology residency. Approximately half of ophthalmologists pursue additional sub-specialty training of 1 or 2 years in areas such as cornea, glaucoma, retina, oculoplastics, pediatric ophthalmology, neuro-ophthalmology, etc. Thus, ophthalmologists have completed 8-10 years of graduate training after college (versus 4 years for optometrists).
4) Optometry school and Ophthalmology residency are very different. Opthalmology residents are physicians, and an Ophthalmology Residency consists almost entirely of clinical training. In contrast, much of the time in Optometry School is spent in the classroom. Optometry school students are just that, students, usually just out of college. Much of the optometry school curriculum covers topics that Ophthalmology Residents already learned in medical school -- Neuroanatomy, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, etc.
5) When physicians begin their Opthalmology residencies, they have already completed 3 full years of clinical training (2 clinical years in medical school and a 1-year internship). Optometrists generally have no clinical training prior to Optometry School.
Hope thats helpful.
