Most people know when they need to see the doctor, or the dentist, but do you know when to see an eye doctor specialist? When it comes to your eyes, there’s definitely some murky ground between what is in the realm of the eye doctor and what can be handled by your general doctor.
Pop quiz!
If your eye is injured, who should you go to? The doctor, or an eye doctor specialist?
If you said the eye specialist, you’re wrong. Immediately following an injury, you probably need to go to the emergency room in order to receive care that could save your eye. Afterwards, for follow-up, you might go to your eye doctor. If you’re interested in getting the best care for your vision, then here are three scenarios that mean visiting the specialist first.
Eye Infection
Most people are familiar with conjunctivitis, and for the most part, a mild eye infection is just a temporary inconvenience. However, even the tamest of eye infections can result in vision loss, and the more serious infections can progress quickly, and painfully. If there is anything abnormal with the appearance or feeling of your eyes, you should visit an eye doctor specialist immediately.
Childhood Vision Problems
Amblyopia is a condition that affects approximately 2%-3% of the population, and is usually first apparent when the child’s eyes appear to cross, or one seems to be “lazy.” A miscommunication between the brain and one of the eyes means that normal vision fails to develop. There are a number of options for treating amblyopia, but it is a condition that must be addressed promptly in order to be effective. A pediatric eye doctor specialist should be contacted if you notice that your child has any vision problems.
LASIK Eye Surgery
An eye doctor specialist, usually an ophthalmologist, is essential to determining candidacy for LASIK. They will use a number of tests to help determine whether laser vision correction will be possible, and if so, which procedures will be a good fit. They may also be involved in the pre- and post-operative care should you go through with the LASIK surgery.
Not every situation calls for a visit to an eye specialist, but if you’re considering LASIK, battling an eye infection, or noticing vision problems in your child, then you should certainly see an experienced and specialized doctor. Remember, trauma to the eye calls for a visit to the emergency room, but vision problems and conditions that don’t require immediate attention call for a specialist. Refernce materials.
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