To start with a cliche: “the eyes are the windows to the soul”. Whether the eyes can detect souls or not is debatable, but they can detect — through regular eye tests — the early stages of certain diseases, diabetes, and cancer among them. Features of the eye can alert your Pittsburgh optometrist to conditions that may, later on, lead to blindness. And even without a risky disease, everyone eventually has to book an appointment to get their eyes checked as blurring vision and farsightedness are natural aspects in the aging process. That said, you’ll want to book the best doctor available considering the importance of sight to daily life.
The question is: how do you find them?
1. Figure out what kind of doctor you need. There are two kinds of eye doctors: the optometrist and the ophthalmologist. Both are licensed to prescribe medicine, contact lenses and glasses and both can diagnose and treat eye conditions; the primary difference between them is evident when it comes to surgery. Generally, an ophthalmologist is the one licensed to perform eye surgery, while the optometrist can handle pre and post-operative care and may refer you to an ophthalmologist for more serious conditions.