medical side of optometry

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Hi all,

I am wondering how much of an emphasis is placed on medical treatment of eye conditions in the field of optometry. One of the main reasons I do not want to go to medical school is due to the heavy emphasis on treating the symptoms of diseases with medicine rather than digging to the root of the problem or stressing the importance of preventative "medicine." I am also big on naturopathic medicine. (Just for the record, I do realize that refracting is considered treating the symptom.) As far as treating dry eyes, infections, and diseases, is prescribing medicine the main remedy? Are there very many alternative treatment choices, and if so, are they covered in optometry school?
Also, can/do optometrists prescribe medicine for systemic conditions that they diagnose such as high blood pressure?

Thanks to all who take the time to respond!

The rules for what optometrists can and can't do vary state to state. We treat eye diseases no differently than an ophthalmologist would. Most of the focus of optometrist involves prescribing glasses however. You shouldnt go into this field if you dont want to do that. Another alternative career is to do medical school, internal medicine residency and then a naturopathic fellowship. No optometrist would treat a systemic disease such as high blood pressure. That would be something the primary care doctor or internist should do.

I think naturopathic medicine is good however, remember that the average life expectacy when naturopathic medicine was king was under 45 years of age. Most medicines are derived from plants. They are the concentrated version of it. The "medicine" in herbs that help people is not different than the "medicine" that is in medicine. My mom is an internist and she has treated many patients who have taken herbal medicines thinking it is "natural" and then gotten heart attacks, kidney failure or major allergic reactions. Just my two cents.

thanks for the response. i look forward to prescribing glasses and contacts so i didn't mean that comment in a negative way. i was just unsure about the whole prescribing drugs part of the profession. i also didn't mean to sound anti-medicine, i realize the tremendous amount of good it has done in peoples' lives and in expanding life expectancies. it's just i've known people in my life who's doctors prescribed drugs with harse side effects when diet change and exercise would have been beneficial...at least i feel it should be encouraged as a starting point and then go on from there after seeing if it yeilds results or not. i guess i'm just gathering as much information as i can right now before i take that final step of actually applying for optometry school.

Go to medical school and do a preventative medicine residency. Problem solved.

There is a whole lot more to medicine than 'treating symptoms'.

There is also DO school which was born out of your same ideas.

A medical student friend of mine said that 90% of people's diseases can be cured or prevented by just not doing anything because they are self-limiting or by diet and exercise.

In regards to Medical Optometry, we learn to treat eye diseases in the same manner as M.D.'s. An evidence based, scientific approach.

Originally Posted by pudgie84

thanks for the response. i look forward to prescribing glasses and contacts so i didn't mean that comment in a negative way. i was just unsure about the whole prescribing drugs part of the profession. i also didn't mean to sound anti-medicine, i realize the tremendous amount of good it has done in peoples' lives and in expanding life expectancies. it's just i've known people in my life who's doctors prescribed drugs with harse side effects when diet change and exercise would have been beneficial...at least i feel it should be encouraged as a starting point and then go on from there after seeing if it yeilds results or not. i guess i'm just gathering as much information as i can right now before i take that final step of actually applying for optometry school.

Naturopathy has no scientific basis. It's just pseudo-scientific charlatanism.

Originally Posted by Robin des Bois

Naturopathy has no scientific basis. It's just pseudo-scientific charlatanism.

Exactly. Add homeopathy, astrology, psychic readings, superstitions and magic to the list.

Originally Posted by pudgie84

Hi all,

I am wondering how much of an emphasis is placed on medical treatment of eye conditions in the field of optometry. One of the main reasons I do not want to go to medical school is due to the heavy emphasis on treating the symptoms of diseases with medicine rather than digging to the root of the problem or stressing the importance of preventative "medicine." I am also big on naturopathic medicine. (Just for the record, I do realize that refracting is considered treating the symptom.) As far as treating dry eyes, infections, and diseases, is prescribing medicine the main remedy? Are there very many alternative treatment choices, and if so, are they covered in optometry school?
Also, can/do optometrists prescribe medicine for systemic conditions that they diagnose such as high blood pressure?

Thanks to all who take the time to respond!

I don't think you see too much of that in eye care because most of what we deal with in the medical arena doesn't lend itself well to naturopathic treatment and/or it lends itself very well to traditional medical treatment.

For example, if you have pink eye, you take eye drops and the pink eye goes away. There's no herbs, or diet, or lifestyle stuff that treats pink eye. Traditional western anti-biotics work well for pink eye.

Originally Posted by pudgie84

Hi all,
Are there very many alternative treatment choices, and if so, are they covered in optometry school?

There is always the: eat lots of green leafy veggies to get your lutein and zeaxanthin to protect the macula, make sure you are filling up on omega-3's to help out with dry eye, wear sunglasses to keep the UV rays from speeding up the progression of cataracts, etc.

But overall disease, dry eye, and infection management relies on Western medications because at this point, that is what has been proven to work.