What is an Optometrist?
An optometrist examines eyes for the detection and correction of visual or muscular defects not requiring medical attention. He uses no drugs; he does not treat diseases of the eye, nor does he practice surgery. To one not familiar with optical sciences it may be difficult to comprehend, then, what the work of the optometrist includes. Comparison of his work with two better known and somewhat related vocations—that of the oculist and that of the optician—will perhaps be the quickest method of explaining the practice of optometry.
First, let it be understood that the human eye may be considered as a refracting and focusing mechanism, similar to a camera, as well as an organ subject to diseases like any other part of our body.
An oculist (a physician who specializes on the eye) deals both with refraction and muscular deficiencies, and with pathological or diseased conditions.
An optometrist, on the other hand, specializes on the functions of the eye as a refracting and focusing apparatus.
An optician grinds the lenses and puts together the necessary fittings to form the eyeglasses prescribed by the oculist or the optometrist.