Local orthoptic or optometry departments should be contacted for visual assessment or for advice about visual assessment when required.
Where Peter lives there is an established orthoptic stroke service and he is referred to this team.
Optometrists
Optometrists are eye care professionals that specialise in the assessment of ocular focussing and play a vital role in assessing the overall health of the eyes. They commonly identify and monitor eye problems such as cataract, glaucoma or age related macular degeneration and they also provide low visual aid services. They are usually high street based but have an increasing role within outpatient hospital services and have strong links with ophthalmologists and orthoptists. Optometrists were historically called ophthalmic opticians and have always worked closely with dispensing opticians, who advise on and fit spectacle frames and lenses.
Orthoptists
Orthoptists are eye care professionals that specialise in the diagnosis, treatment and management of disorders of eye movement and binocular vision, which is the ability of the eyes to work together as a pair. They have expertise in the area of visual development and the assessment and treatment of childhood visual disorders. Orthoptists often assess children with squints or reduced vision and they undertake treatment for amblyopia (lazy eye). Adult patients may attend orthoptists with symptoms of double vision (diplopia) often due to systemic or neurological conditions such as an overactive thyroid, or stroke. They are normally hospital based and work closely with ophthalmologists.
Ophthalmologists
Ophthalmologists are doctors who specialise in the medical and surgical treatment of eye problems. They undertake expert assessment and treatment of injuries or diseases both within and around the eye. Ophthalmology is a vast and varied profession and most ophthalmologists choose to sub specialise in a particular area of disease or pathology e.g. glaucoma, cataract, retinal defects, macular disorders. Ophthalmologists are hospital based practitioners.
Page last reviewed: 22 Feb 2021
