Visit your medical optometrist for primary medical eye care, including eye medication prescriptions, monitoring and managing eye diseases, or emergency eye care services. Visit an ophthalmologist for interventions like surgical treatments for serious eye diseases, advanced ocular problems, or refractive eye surgery.

For general eye care, either an optometrist or ophthalmologist is a good option. Both of these types of eye doctors can: Give you a comprehensive dilated eye exam. Write a prescription for glasses or contacts.

Optometrists are not medical doctors. Instead, they have a Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree after finishing three or more years of college and four years of optometry school.

An optometrist is not a medical doctor, but rather a doctor of optometry (OD). Optometrists can perform routine vision testing, prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses, detect vision problems and eye disease, prescribe medicines to treat some diseases of the eye, and provide care before and after eye surgery.