Important Tools You’ll Need To Know as an Eye Doctor

As a student considering the field of medicine, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the different tools of the trade. Once you know what type of healthcare position you want to go into, you’ll take extensive courses to prepare you for the higher education that comes with this field. For example, if you’re interested in becoming an ophthalmologist or another type of eye doctor, your courses will help you learn the tools eye doctors use and the tasks they perform. To help familiarize yourself with some of these terms, here are important tools you’ll need to know as an eye doctor.

Tonometer

This tool is important for every eye doctor. The tonometer is a device that helps an eye doctor measure the pressure inside a patient’s eye. This is known as intraocular pressure, and this reading is important to the overall health of the eye. For example, high intraocular pressure is one of the only warning signs for some eye disorders, including glaucoma. There are multiple types of tonometry tests, including devices that physically contact the eye, and air-puff tonometers, which are better for younger or anxious patients.

Eye Charts

If you wear glasses or contacts, odds are you’ve seen an eye chart before. Eye charts help doctors gauge a patient’s quality of vision, especially while fitting them for new lenses. There are two main types of eye charts: the Snellen eye chart and the Sloan eye chart. The main difference between the two charts is their lettering. Snellen eye charts use bolder lettering with serif fonts while Sloan charts do not use serif fonts. The Snellen eye chart is currently the most popular model, though it’s important to be familiar with both.

Ophthalmoscope

If you’re interested in studying and pursuing ophthalmology specifically, you’ll want to be familiar with some of the tools used by an ophthalmologist. An ophthalmoscope is one of these tools. The ophthalmoscope allows the ophthalmologist to examine the interior of the eye. This process includes dilating drops to make viewing the inside of the eye easier. The device provides a light source and a series of mirrors that allow eye doctors to examine the interior of the eye.

Autorefractor

The autorefractor helps determine the eye’s refractive error and helps eye doctors determine a prescription. Refractive error encompasses the conditions known as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, which you may be familiar with already. The autorefractor is a machine that takes readings on your eye based on a series of in- and out-of-focus images. This provides a starting baseline for your eye doctor to assign a prescription.

Now that you have a better idea of some of the important tools you’ll need to know as an eye doctor, you can approach your studies with extra knowledge. Any healthcare field involves lots of studying, but breaking down information into pieces like the tools above can help you be more prepared for testing and further studies.

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