Who is an Ophthalmologist?

Are you planning to start your career as an Ophthalmologist? An ophthalmologist is a very very promising career after BSc Optometry. It carries huge potential and promises career growth in the health science field. So if you are confused about the career path post your BSc optometry, then this blog is for you.

Ophthalmologists are professionals in the medical field who are carries a specialization in diagnosing and treating any eye or vision-related health issues after BSc optometry. People often confuse ophthalmologists and optometrists. Some people even confuse them with opticians. Then what is the exact difference between these professionals undergoing BSc optometry? Do their names sound similar and some of their functions might be overlapping? But there are some basic criteria is which distinguish them from each other.

• Opticians: Opticians are the professionals who are trained to suggest optical appliances whenever there are eye-related issues after BSc optometry. So whenever there are problems regarding visions, people mostly prefer going to opticians. As an Optician, you can help people to choose the right frames or the right glasses. You can also provide regarding how many types of lenses are there or how to choose lens coatings.
• Optometrist: As an Optometrist, you can earn good respect in the medical field after a BSc in optometry. Optometrist professionals can do the examination on your eyes. They can also do some tests on your visions, and prescribe corrective glasses with accurate numbers and contact lenses. They also specialize in diagnosing and treating eye-related disorders like cataracts, glaucoma, and amblyopia.

Sometimes, as a BSc optometry graduate, your job can be challenging. But there are a number of factors that you can keep in mind.

• Ophthalmologist: When it comes to the eye or vision care, people prefer going to an ophthalmologist. As an ophthalmologist, it will be your duty to carry out eye examinations perform vision testing, and also to prescribe glasses and the right contact lenses. They are known as medical doctors.

They can treat many eye-related problems like eye infection, retinovascular diseases, refractive errors, strabismus, etc. They are also preferred by patients for follow-up on medical treatments.

All the above professions discussed above have to complete their BSc optometry from any institute of health sciences. Post that, there are various other exams they have to go through for specific job roles.

What Are the Functions of Ophthalmologists?

Ophthalmologist offers a very promising practice in the medical field after BSc optometry. But sometimes as an ophthalmologist, your job might be very daunting. You have to give complete attention and take good care of your patients. I get a very delicate part of your body hence this job becomes complex in some cases. As an ophthalmologist, it is your duty to give a very comprehensive examination of the patient's eyes after BSc optometry. You can access the patient’s vision-related problems.

Once you complete your health science courses and some training you can prescribe the patient's medications that are required. When there are problems with the retina or refraction-related issues in the eye, then ophthalmologists also suggest glasses or contact lenses as a prescription. It is a dynamic job role after BSc optometry from an institute of health sciences as sometimes as an ophthalmologist you have to perform the basic observations on the patients to solve their problems.

This includes reading carefully the previous case history and performing testing to check if the pupils were responding to the light accurately. You also have to perform checks on if the alignment of the eyes is appropriate or if the muscle movement of the eyes is good. So overall an opthalmologist makes sure that the patient's eyes are performing well and there in good health.

In the medical field, they are known as doctors hence they can examine and prescribe medication for eye-related disorders or diseases. So if patients are suffering from any eye-related disorders like cataract, glaucoma, and dry or any fungal infection to the eye, then the ophthalmologist is the one whom the patients go to.

Once you perform a basic diagnosis of the patient’s problem, you can suggest to them respective medications like eyedrops, pills or other accessories like glasses. Ophthalmologists are responsible to give chemical treatment and suggest mechanical accessories treatment as well. In many complicated conditions, patients are also required to go through the surgery. Hence, you may have to perform eye-related surgeries whenever required.

Which health science courses and training are required?

To become one, you need to go to medical school and get basic training which is required for the medical and surgical operation of the eyes. You can enroll in health science courses such as OPTOMETRY from reputed institutions like the ITM VU, Vadodara of health sciences or any other reputed college. The Academy might include the following:

• A BSc Optometry of 4 years.
• Medical schooling of 4 years.
• An Internship of 1 year.

Why are ophthalmologists important?

It is advised that you should perform your eye exam in a very routine manner. After the outbreak of COVID-19, there are many single infections popping up. Hence there is a lot of demand for the BSc optometry course also. So it becomes mandatory to go to an ophthalmologist who carries a BSc optometry degree at least from a reputed institution. If you fail to do that, you might have to face eye-related disorders.

We at ITM Vocational University, Vadodara have opened our admissions for courses like BSc optometry. You can go through our website and choose the course you want to pursue. Our career advisors are happy to help you.