Can a regular eye doctor help me with an eye infection?

Question

I need to see someone about what I believe is an eye infection that I have had in one of my upper eye lids for a while now. Can any regular eye prescription doctor help me with this or do I need to see someone else?

Answer 1

See an optometrist.  Unless you need surgery (which I doubt), he or she will be able to treat you.  Ophthalmologists are great and they can do a lot for you but so can optometrists, including diagnose and treat your eye infection.

Answer 2

YOU MAKE THE CHOICE:

If you want a qualifyed professional to take care of your eyes, of course you will choose a MEDICAL DOCTOR. A medical doctor studies all his life long everything corcerned to the eyes (health and diseases, glass prescription and contact lenses, surgeries etc.).

If you want someone to take care of your heart , you will choose a cardiologist, right? Or are you going to look for a nurse who just measures your blood pressure and gives you a receipt of an anti-hypertensive drugs?

Very strange , don´t you think so?

Ask dr. John Ciccone , president of American Academy of Ophthalmology what he thinks about this matter.

I HOPE YOU MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE!!!

Answer 3

Wow.  The amount of misinformation here is staggering.  I wish people would know what they're talking about before spouting off some nonsense.

OP, you'd be MUCH, MUCH better off going to an optometrist for ANY eye problem than a family doctor.  Family docs are great for a lot of things, but eye are not one of them.  I'm seen them s***w up time and time again.

By the way, optometrists can prescribe medication for eye infections in EVERY state.  Most will also take your health insurance, which works the same way at the optometrist as it does at your family doc.

Answer 4

Probably not. The eye glasses prescription guy is called an optometrist. Optometrists are not medical doctors and I don't believe they have medication prescription privileges. Now, they may have seen so many people in the past that they could make a d**n fine educated guess at what it is but they cannot prescribe a medication for it aside from what you can get over the counter. I'd talk to your PCM first.

Answer 5

Mike,

The most common thing based on your description would be a hordeolum or chalazion.  Both are commonly occurring bumps that occur on the eyelids.  A hordeolum is generally red and a little tender.  Though warm compresses and an antibiotic ointment formulated for use in the eye can make them go away more quickly, they usually go away on their own in a couple of weeks.  After the redness fades, it may leave behind a small bump called a chalazion.  Warm compresses may also help this resolve, but if it persists more than one or two months, a brief office precedure to excise it may be necessary to be rid of it.

If the bump lasts more than a couple of weeks, I'd get it checked by an optometrist or ophthalmologist just to make sure that it looks like what you're describing.

-an ophthalmology resident

Answer 6

Mike, you need to see a physician who can write a prescription which an optometrist cannot do in most states.  An eye physician specialist, called an ophthalmologist is the best but more expensive and harder to get an appointment with, and likely unnecessary.  Most family practice physicians and internal medicine physicians (internist) are quite adequate for your needs.  Don't delay.

Answer 7

of course the OD (optometrist) can help and treat you. They go through four years of additional schooling to become an OD. The big difference between optometrist and ophthalmologist is surgical procedure are performed by the latter.

Answer 8

Of course regular eye doctors can help you.  They can give you a prescription for eye drops and  detect what kind of infection it is.

Answer 9

Initially a generalist MD, if he can't help. he'll refer you to an opthalmologist. Feel Better