Focusing On Better Vision

The three-year-old girl was shy and quieter than many children her age. Her parents had noticed that she had a tendency to squint and usually sat close to the television. So they had her vision checked.

"She needed glasses," says Linda Chous, the optometrist who examined the girl. "Once she was fitted, she began to interact more with other people and the environment around her. It was like seeing a flower blossom."

Beyond 20/20 Vision

Chous and her husband Robert, also an optometrist, own Glasses Menagerie in Uptown, which provides complete vision care for children from birth through adolescence.

"The visual system is the source of 80 percent of everything we learn," Chous says. The system is complex: It includes the eyes, the brain and nerves, as well as the ability to process and understand what we see. That's why good sight requires more than 20/20 vision.

A Many-Faceted Practice

Optometrists are the primary healthcare professionals for the eye. They examine, diagnose, treat and manage diseases, injuries and disorders of the visual system. They also diagnose problems like near- or far-sightedness, prescribe glasses and contact lenses, and provide vision therapy or rehabilitation.

The View From Within

The inside of the eye can be examined using special lights and lenses that magnify structures affected by systemic diseases. For that reason, optometrists play an important role in the early diagnosis and treatment of conditions like arthritis, diabetes and hypertension.

As a result, optometrists often collaborate with physicians who are treating patients with these chronic conditions. Since good control of hypertension and blood sugar is essential for healthy vision, many optometrists now do blood pressure checks and glucose testing during an office visit.

Great Opportunity

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job opportunities for optometrists should be very good over the next decade. In Minnesota, the demand for optometrists is especially high in rural areas, says Chous, who is president-elect of the Minnesota Optometric Association.

Optometrists practice in settings that include solo and group practice, HMOs, retail, the military, public health, research and teaching. Specialties include pediatric and infant vision, geriatrics, low vision rehabilitation, learning disabilities, head trauma, and environmental and occupational vision.

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Nancy Giguere is a freelance writer from St. Paul who has written about healthcare since 1995.