Optometrist
A health care professional who is licensed to provide primary eye care services: {{}}to examine and diagnose eye diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts, and retinal diseases and, in certain states in the U.S., to treat them; to diagnose related systemic (bodywide) conditions such as hypertension and diabetes that may affect the eyes; to examine, diagnose and treat visual conditions such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia; and to prescribe glasses, contact lenses, low vision rehabilitation and medications as well as perform minor surgical procedures such as the removal of foreign bodies. An optometrist is a Doctor of Optometry, an O.D. (not to be confused with a Doctor of Medicine, an M.D.). To become an optometrist, one must complete pre-professional undergraduate college education followed by 4 years of professional education in a college of optometry. Some optometrists also do a residency.
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n.
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op·tom·e·trist (op-tomґə-trist) a health care provider who examines, diagnoses, treats, and manages diseases and disorders of the visual system, the eye, and associated structures, as well as diagnosing related systemic conditions. See optometry.
Medical dictionary.
2011.