So it’s becoming increasingly apparent that I need to get my vision checked out. It’s probably been over 30 years since I’ve had my eyes checked. I seem to misreading words and it often takes time for me to focus correctly on something I’m reading, especially when it’s close.
Does anyone have opinions on if I should go to an optometrist or an ophthalmologist? I have a company Vision plan, as well as a Medical plan.
AIUI, optometrist = checks vision, ophthalmologist = checks eye diseases.
So you should go to the optometrist, although, of course, there must be vast overlap between the two fields.
If you have any medical conditions like Diabetes that might affect you vision you should probably got to an ophthalmologist.
And it might be prudent to get assessed for cataracts and macular degeneration as well.
I’d suggest an optometrist-they will get you set up with vision correction if you need but they also check for all the medical health eye statuses as well. They are qualified to prescribe for and treat eye conditions. Every one I’ve consulted refers you to an ophthalmologist the instant that it is prudent, just as ophthalmologists refer to optometrists for vision correction/vision therapy and simple medical management.
I’d say optometrist.
As a note–don’t go to those chains you see in the malls or on TV. From my experience, they are a rip-off and even those buy one get one free (or second one half off) will cost you a ton of money.
Just go to a regular one.
Optometrist first. It’s likely your vision issues are just presbyopia, which very often happens as you age. Your lenses become less flexible, making it harder to focus.
If there is a bigger problem, they will probably notice it and send you to an opthamologist.
Said another way, any disease in there has a 30 year head start. And you’re at least age 40 and probably age 50+.
Any ophthalmologist can easily add giving you a glasses prescription to their normal exam for maybe even zero marginal cost.
Particularly given you have medical insurance which almost certainly does cover ophthalmologists, but probably not spectacles, IMO there is ZERO reason to go for the half-assed optometrist service when you can get instead a complete checkup.
There is no deterioration process your body can go through that works out better for you if you’re unaware of it until well-advanced. Everything is better with thorough inspections at the recommended ages and intervals. Everything.
Exactly. Optometrists are doctors of Optometry, and do eye exams and are mostly centered around correcting patients’ vision. Ophthalmologists are MDs who specialize in the eye and its diseases.
It’s kind of analogous to the divide between a GP and a specialist. Your GP may see that you have signs of cancer, but they’re going to refer you to an oncologist for treatment.
If you’re just having regular trouble seeing like you describe, I’d see an optometrist first, and go from there. They’ll either correct your vision with contacts/glasses, or refer you to an ophthalmologist if they think something more serious is going on. Or, I suppose if you want some kind of refractive surgery (LASIX), they’ll refer you to an ophthalmologist for that too.
Ophthalmologists (eye diseases) physicians generally do not do exams for eye glasses. Find an ophthalmologist who has an optometrist on staff.
Medical insurance does cover optometrists-they are Doctors of optometry and go through 4 years of post grad just like what we call medical doctors. They are very, very qualified to handle the vast majority of eye maladies and exercise solid discretion when to handle off to a medical eye specialist who has at least 4 additional years of medical training. Many medical insurances will pay for the health checkup part of an optometry exam but require you to pay for the refraction part (fiddling with lens prescriptions) if correction is required and you don’t carry specific vision insurance. Conversely, if you ask for an ophthalmologist to do all that fiddling with those little lenses for refraction, you are going to pay for a refraction-it takes physician time to do that and record it, it is not just a ‘little thing’ for them to do. In my area that was about $60 two years ago.
They are two different highly educated medical specialties, each does a little of the other, enough to screen you and hand you off if needed. It goes both ways-opthamologists refer over to optometrists for vision correction and maximization of vision cause that is time-consuming, very technical and requires very, very expensive equipment and optometrists handle a lot of garden variety medical things with eye health but hand off things complex or not clear cut to the medical/surgical doctors. They are mutually complementary. Neither wants to do what the other does better.
IOW, optometrists are in no way HALF-ASSED practitioners. They do what they do well and appropriately. Just ask an ophthalmologist. It is a misuse of scarce resources to use an ophthalmologist for vision screening and correction.
My kid is a specialist medical physician. This misuse (and overconsumption) of healthcare resources and expertise drives him nuts. He’s the one who will tell you “you don’t need me for this you need a _____. Come back to me if and when s/he tells you you to and not until then.”
As you can tell, I don’t have any opinions about it 
Thank you for the better information. And yes, “half-assed” was a really poor choice of words on my part; I was definitely thinking of some other specialty when I wrote that.
Once in awhile I say something really stupid. That was this week’s contribution to that sorry pile.
Really? The two ophthalmologists that I’ve seen have both done those. In fact, they were who I saw until I was probably 25ish and I shopped around for a better price. Now I go to Sam’s Club (the doctors, at least at my Sam’s, are very good) to get my script updated for contacts/glasses. And if I have a specific issue I’d like addressed, I go back to my ophthalmologist.
Personally, my recommendation would be to go to an ophthalmologist, just because it’s been 30 years.
Good thing you are so cute! You’re more than forgiven.
FWIW, I am just as enthused about Doctors of Osteopathy being real doctors (they are, dammit!). I also think physical therapists, dentists, pharmacists, speech pathologists and doctors of audiology do not get their due respect. More on those when the opportunity arises.
Best to not get me going about chiropractic though. Or treating cancer with acupuncture.
s/
long time in the saddle nurse who has just about seen it all by now
Total agreement here, and I’m not just groveling. 
I have 2 PCPs: one DO, one MD. Both rock, but the DO rocks harder.
I’m a big fan of specialist NPs too; usually more effective as clinicians because of their more human-centric approach. “IANA disease, I’m a person who has a disease.”
Here is an experienced vote for starting with an optometrist - if you go to someone reputable, they’ll send you onward to an ophthalmologist if their screening suggests it might be necessary.
I’ve been to ophthalmologists who do exams for prescription eyeglasses and ones who don’t, but optometrists specialize in that sort of thing - they’ll likely spend more time with you on that aspect of your eye care, better explain what kind of bifocals you can choose from, tell you how good or bad your depth perception is, etc.
I speak as someone who has pathological myopia/retinal degeneration and has been under continuous care of ophthalmologists since I was about 7 or 8 for medical issues. That hasn’t stopped me from appreciating the skills of a good optometrist.
As I understand it, osteopathy and allopathy differ in philosophy (osteopathy started out as quackery more akin to chiropractic), but in practice the state licensing exams require both to meet a minimum standard, so DOs and MDs are effectively interchangeable from that perspective, as the training and licensing is equivalent.
Now you are singing my song!
Medical and DO licensing exams are national (Step I, II and III, in the case of MD). Licensing requirements and details are state level. If you haven’t passed the national Step exams, you aren’t going to be able to get any state license.
Regardless, they’re the same for DOs and MDs, so in practice they’re effectively interchangeable.