Top quality vision depends upon having your eyes examined at the right time, by the right eye doctor. Eye care services are provided by ophthalmologists, optometrists and opticians. Do you know the difference between each of these health care providers? All three of these professionals perform eye exams, yet their focus is not the same.
At Monji Optometry, our Burbank optometrist provides a range of eye care services, including eyesight and visual system testing, vision correction with eyeglasses and contact lenses, comprehensive eye exams and prescribing medications for many ocular diseases. An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor with a specialty in eye and vision care and a license to practice medicine and surgery. Eye doctors with an MD will diagnose and treat all types of ocular disease, prescribe eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions, and perform eye surgeries. Opticians are certified to design and fit eyeglass frames
and lenses, contacts and other vision devices. Our opticians work with prescriptions determined by optometrists or ophthalmologists, and they are not allowed to perform our Burbank eye exams.
It’s important to know when to pay a visit to an expert, professional optometrist. If you wear contact lenses or eyeglasses, the American Optometric Association (AOA) recommends that you have an annual eye exam, regardless of age. If you are over age 40, it’s advised to have yearly eye health evaluations, and even more frequently after age 60. Specific health risk factors, such as hypertension and diabetes, also point to a need for more frequent eye exams. Consult with our Burbank optometrists about your personal condition. AOA pediatric guidelines instruct parents to bring kids for eye exams starting from a half-year old, then at age 3, and again prior to starting school. This is the best way to prevent any vision-related learning disorders from interfering with your child’s success in school!
In addition to routine Burbank eye exams, there are a number of warning signs that should not be ignored! If you experience any of the following ocular signs or vision symptoms, we urge you to contact your optometrist for testing as soon as possible. A thorough eye exam is the only way to detect or rule out many ocular conditions that could lead to vision loss or complications.
- Dark veil over your vision
- Bulging of one or both eyes
- Distorted or blurry vision
- Double vision
- Excessive tearing
- Eye pain
- Eyelid swelling or soreness
- Seeing halos around lights
- Injury to your eye(s)
- Loss of peripheral vision
- Eyes that are misaligned
- New floaters
- Flashes of light
- Red or pink eyes, with or without discharge