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.

</LI></UL> 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.