Eye Diseases and Conditions Slideshow Pictures Pink Eye Slideshow Pictures Cataracts Slideshow Pictures

Medical Author:

John D. Sheppard, MD, MMSc

Medical Editor:

Andrew A. Dahl, MD, FACS

Andrew A. Dahl, MD, FACS

Andrew A. Dahl, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist. Dr. Dahl's educational background includes a BA with Honors and Distinction from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, and an MD from Cornell University, where he was selected for Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society. He had an internal medical internship at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center.

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Ophthalmologists

Ophthalmologists are physicians, either a doctor of medicine (MD) or a doctor of osteopathy (DO), who have graduated from college with a bachelor's degree and then completed four years of medical school, at least one year of internship, and three or more years of residency training specializing in medical and surgical care of eye diseases. Ophthalmologists may have also completed one or more years of subspecialty fellowship training in a specific area of ophthalmology, such as retina, cornea, glaucoma, pediatrics, oculoplastics, refractive surgery, uveitis (inflammation of the eye), pathology, or neuro-ophthalmology.

Ophthalmologists are medical doctors who are licensed by the state to practice medicine and to perform surgery. They can deliver total eye care, including performing a complete eye examination, prescribing eyeglasses and contact lenses, diagnosing and treating eye diseases, and performing surgery on the eyes and the area around the eye. Ophthalmologists usually practice in groups of other ophthalmologists or in multi-specialty practices with other physician specialists. Solo practices, however, remain popular, particularly in smaller communities.

Having completed medical school, ophthalmologists are often more aware of how different diseases may affect the eye and how different findings noted during an eye examination may indicate serious disease elsewhere in the body. In addition, ophthalmologists have a keen understanding of how medications prescribed by other physicians can cause unintentional side effects to the eye and how ocular medications can affect the rest of the body or may interfere with other health conditions.

Diseases treated by ophthalmologists include but are not limited to cataract, glaucoma, eye infections, conjunctivitis, corneal ulcers, glaucoma, drooping lids (ptosis), strabismus (crossed eyes), lazy eyes, eye allergies, thyroid eye disease, diabetic eye disease, wet and dry macular degeneration, retinal detachments, eye hemorrhages, and all forms of eye injuries.

The most common surgical procedures performed by ophthalmologists include cataract extraction with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation, laser capsulotomy for routine post-cataract membranes, and injections into the vitreous cavity to treat potentially blinding wet macular degeneration. Other procedures performed by ophthalmologists include glaucoma surgeries, filters, laser treatment for glaucoma, refractive eye surgery including LASIK and PRK, lid lifts (ptosis repair or blepharoplasty), retinal detachment repair, diabetic retinal laser therapy, laser treatments for macular degeneration, vitrectomy, naso-lacrimal drainage surgery for excess tearing (epiphora), and strabismus (eye muscle) surgery.