The ophthalmologist is the front line vision professional responsible for medical care of patients with vision impairments. Medical problems must be addressed before rehabilitation models can be put into action. Quite often, ophthalmological monitoring is a life long necessity for individuals with low vision, with re-examinations taking place every six to twelve months. A medical assessment looks for signs of disease or trauma, usually at the level of the eyeball. A medical assessment can offer valuable inferences about function, but cannot replace actual task evaluations of educators and rehabilitation specialists.
Ophthalmologists are impairment specialists.
They are specialists in the function and repair of body parts and body systems. They are not the experts when it comes to disability or impairment. Optometry Optometrists bridge the gap between the medical and the rehabilitative fields. They are trained to diagnose medical problems, and to refer the more serious cases that require surgery to ophthalmologists. Optometrists and neuro-optometrists also treat many medical conditions using drug therapies.