She also works with patients at the Illinois Eye Institute and the University of Chicago hospitals. The public doesn't really know what we do. We deal with eye care but also with a person's total health. We treat double vision, headaches and eyestrain, for example. Some of my patients' initial complaints about vision problems have led to diagnoses of multiple sclerosis and even tumors.
Optometry is a holistic profession that involves much more than a pair of eyes.
An ophthalmologist is a surgeon who deals with overall eye health. Optometrists deal with vision. We can't perform surgery, but we can diagnose and treat conditions like red eye, pink eye and glaucoma. An optician is someone who makes and dispenses glasses. I attended four years of undergraduate school, and then four years of optometry school.