> "Us Brits"? My recollection is that you are actually a Norwegian girl with a
> Japanese name who lives now in the UK. Oh well, what's the heck...

> "douglas" <Protoman2...[at]gmail.com> wrote
> > So, could any one compare the refraction abilities of an
> > ophthalmologist vs. those of an optometrist, or are they both equal?
> For that task, probably optometrists are better in general. Many
> ophthalmologists would gladly agree. As a group, they don't like refracting
> or fitting contacts. Many of them delegate it to a technician.
> Medical insurance never pays for refraction. Why would they want to be
> better at refraction?
> > And why do they let optometrists --in the US-- treat things like
> > glaucoma, cataracts, convergence disorders, accomadation pathologies,
> > conjunctivitides, etc.?
> The same reason they let dentists work on teeth. Do you really need an oral
> surgeon to fill your cavities or design your braces?
> In the US, optometrists get the same length and scope of training as
> dentists.
> In some US universities, students of optometry, dentistry and medicine all
> take classes from the same professors, in the same classrooms.
> In my class, optometry students did cadaver dissection, pharmacology,
> bacteriology and several other "ologies". In other countries it is not so.
> In the US, optometry schools receive government funding and it's bad
> investment to waste that training. Optometry was favored by the US military
> after WWII, as a profession where returning pilots and officers could be
> gainfully employed.
> In the US, optometry participates in regulation of drugs (FDA) and public
> health.
> Optometrists serve as officers and administrators in the military.
> There are optometrists on the faculty of medical schools, teaching
> ophthalmology residents.
> There are optometrists with hospital admitting privileges.
> Most surgeons do not want to treat pink eye, amblyopia and contact lens
> problems. *And in the US, there aren't enough ophthalmologists to treat all
> those non-surgical problems.
> There are almost three times as many US optometrists as ophthalmologists.
> > Both types of eye doctors have their place in the healthcare system...but
> > they shouldn't do each other's jobs, it's less productive and could lead
> > to
> > misadventures.
> Then it's fortunate that you aren't in charge. Learn some more before you
> pass judgement.
> In the last 30 years there's been significant improvements in training, more
> standards, CE requirements and stringent board examinations, In the same
> period, every US state has passed new laws allowing optometrists to
> prescribe drugs in the treatment of medical disease. *US Medicare and
> private insurance companies recognize optometrists as participating
> providers on par with ophthalmology.
> Does it mean anything to you that optometry malpractice premiums have hardly
> changed in those 30 years?
> What's it like on your planet? Nurses digging for foreign bodies with a
> Q-tip? Barefoot doctors and general practitioners prescribing
> chloramphenicol for every red eye?
> -MT

> So, could any one compare the refraction abilities of an
> ophthalmologist vs. those of an optometrist, or are they both equal?

> And why do they let optometrists --in the US-- treat things like
> glaucoma, cataracts, convergence disorders, accomadation pathologies,
> conjunctivitides, etc.?

> Both types of eye doctors have their place in the healthcare system...but
> they shouldn't do each other's jobs, it's less productive and could lead
> to
> misadventures.

> Mike Tyner schreef:
> > "douglas" <Protoman2...[at]gmail.com> wrote
> > > But I'm sure you could use a direct ophthalmoscope for retinoscopy, if
> > > you lacked a retnoscope, would the procedure be any different for
> > > using an ophthalmoscope for static retinoscopy?
> > The ophthalmoscope lacks any optics to focus the beam.
> No need to, some skiascopes/retinoscopes didn't have either.
> The ones that are without such a facility most of the time are using a
> divergent lightbeam as seen in the old plano mirror ophthalmoscope.
> * I don't think I could
> > do ret with parallel light.
> I'm sure you could
> > Your mileage may vary.
> > > Which provides better
> > > bva, cyclo, or non-cyclo?
> > "BVA" is a term usually applied to subjective refraction. Which ret techique
> > comes closer to the subjective refraction? Probably dry (non-cyclo.)
> I think that's for sure.
> Jan (normally Dutch spoken)
> PS, pictures of an old *ophthalmoscope/skiascope set
> skiascope = retinoscope
> http://picasaweb.google.nl/jan.oudes...scopeSkiascope

> "douglas" <Protoman2050[at]gmail.com> wrote
> > But I'm sure you could use a direct ophthalmoscope for retinoscopy, if
> > you lacked a retnoscope, would the procedure be any different for
> > using an ophthalmoscope for static retinoscopy?
> The ophthalmoscope lacks any optics to focus the beam.

> do ret with parallel light.

> Your mileage may vary.
> > Which provides better
> > bva, cyclo, or non-cyclo?
> "BVA" is a term usually applied to subjective refraction. Which ret techique
> comes closer to the subjective refraction? Probably dry (non-cyclo.)

> On 3 May, 08:30, douglas <Protoman2...[at]gmail.com> wrote:
> > On May 2, 2:43 pm, Zetsu <absolutelyinvinci...[at]hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > On 2 May, 21:44, "Mike Tyner" <mty...[at]mindspring.com> wrote:
> > > > <otisbr...[at]embarqmail.com> wrote
> > > > > An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor first. *With further
> > > > > training he qualifies for his title. *He and all medical doctors
> > > > > are call "Doctors" -- if the subject is medical.
> > > > I believe you're going to find it isn't so in GB. Most doctors are "Mister"
> > > > and aluminum is aluminium and barbiturates are bar-bi-TUR-its.
> > > > -MT
> > > It's so funny how you Americans call aluminium 'aLUUminum'!
> > > In fact we were having a laugh about just that in an English class at
> > > school a few weeks back.
> > > By the way, I'm not sure what you mean that most doctors are 'Mister'
> > > here. Personally I call doctors doctors and misters misters!
> > Are ophthalmlogists surgeons, or physicians?
> I suppose a lot of them would be both?- Hide quoted text -
> - Show quoted text -

> On May 2, 2:43 pm, Zetsu <absolutelyinvinci...[at]hotmail.com> wrote:
> > On 2 May, 21:44, "Mike Tyner" <mty...[at]mindspring.com> wrote:
> > > <otisbr...[at]embarqmail.com> wrote
> > > > An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor first. With further
> > > > training he qualifies for his title. He and all medical doctors
> > > > are call "Doctors" -- if the subject is medical.
> > > I believe you're going to find it isn't so in GB. Most doctors are "Mister"
> > > and aluminum is aluminium and barbiturates are bar-bi-TUR-its.
> > > -MT
> > It's so funny how you Americans call aluminium 'aLUUminum'!
> > In fact we were having a laugh about just that in an English class at
> > school a few weeks back.
> > By the way, I'm not sure what you mean that most doctors are 'Mister'
> > here. Personally I call doctors doctors and misters misters!
> Are ophthalmlogists surgeons, or physicians?

> On 2 May, 21:44, "Mike Tyner" <mty...[at]mindspring.com> wrote:
> > <otisbr...[at]embarqmail.com> wrote
> > > An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor first. *With further
> > > training he qualifies for his title. *He and all medical doctors
> > > are call "Doctors" -- if the subject is medical.
> > I believe you're going to find it isn't so in GB. Most doctors are "Mister"
> > and aluminum is aluminium and barbiturates are bar-bi-TUR-its.
> > -MT
> It's so funny how you Americans call aluminium 'aLUUminum'!
> In fact we were having a laugh about just that in an English class at
> school a few weeks back.
> By the way, I'm not sure what you mean that most doctors are 'Mister'
> here. Personally I call doctors doctors and misters misters!

> <otisbr...[at]embarqmail.com> wrote
> > An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor first. With further
> > training he qualifies for his title. He and all medical doctors
> > are call "Doctors" -- if the subject is medical.
> I believe you're going to find it isn't so in GB. Most doctors are "Mister"
> and aluminum is aluminium and barbiturates are bar-bi-TUR-its.
> -MT