There is a lot of confusion about what optometrists really do. We are so stereotypically associated with asking people "Which is better, 1 or 2?" and correcting vision problems that people are sometimes surprised to hear that we do a lot more! To help with the confusion I decided to start this new blog series "My eye doctor can detect which disease?". Some might surprise you, some might not. In honour of stampede we thought we would bring you the first in this blog series: Chlamydia.

Yes, seriously.

Please do not misunderstand, you will keep ALL of your clothes on during your eye exam. What allows us to detect chlamydia is not what you might think. Chlamydia actually can show up in your eyes.

I know it's a little gross but it's true. To you, as a patient, you would think that you just had pink eye. Much like a normal pink eye there will be a lot of gooey discharge from your eyes and your eye will be red and uncomfortable. The trouble with chlamydial pink eye is that you can use antibiotic drops constantly and it just won't go away! A normal pink eye will usually go away on its own in about a week even without treatment. People usually come in frustrated because they've been on medication for weeks and their pink eye isn't improving.

This is chlamydia. You don't really want to see what this looks like in the eye, do you?

So if antibiotic drops don't help how do you fix it? The good news is that chlamydia is easily treated with a single, strong dose of azithromycin in pill form. Once the bacteria is destroyed the eye infection (and other symptoms) will go away.

Remember that even if you can treat chlamydia quickly and easily it's always better to just not get it in the first place. You'll save yourself from an embarrassing discussion with your partner(s) if you protect yourself. Have a fun stampede but remember to stay safe!

As always if you would like more information you can contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.

There is a lot of confusion about what optometrists really do. We are so stereotypically associated with asking people "Which is better, 1 or 2?" and correcting vision problems that people are sometimes surprised to hear that we do a lot more! To help with the confusion I decided to start this new blog series "I should see an eye doctor for that?". Some might surprise you, some might not. In today's blog I want to go over one that should be obvious: eye infections.

Eye infections, often known as pink eye, are really common. Your eye might be red, gooey, watery, itchy, sore and your vision may be blurred. They aren't pleasant. So if you wake up with a nasty red eye who are you going to call? If you said Ghostbusters congratulations for being born in the 80's. Assuming your eye isn't haunted though you're going to need a doctor. So, do you go see your medical doctor or your doctor of optometry?

Medical doctors are of course fully trained to deal with eye infections and can prescribe you what you need. So, why would you see an optometrist instead?

1. Optometrists have specialized equipment. This equipment is designed to look closely at the eye to determine what type of infection you have, how serious it is and if it is actually an infection or something else. Most MDs do not. Having this information means we can target the infection directly leading to faster healing times and a lower chance of a misdiagnosis (which could make the problem worse depending on what is prescribed).

2. There's no wait! You can generally get in to see an optometrist within a few minutes. My MD is great but I almost always have to wait to get in even when I have an appointment. The wait times at an ER for something like this will be brutal because it's not an emergency and you'll be waiting for ages.

3. It's fully covered by Alberta Health Care. So long as you provide us with your Alberta Health Care number a visit for an eye infection is considered medically required.

So, it's faster, it's free and we have all the specialized equipment and training to make a good diagnosis and fix your infection. There's no reason not to come see an optometrist! After all, if you had a toothache would you go see your medical doctor or would you see your dentist?

If you want to read more feel free to check out the following links or as always you can contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.

Canadian Association of Optometrists - Conjunctivitis

American Optometric Association - Conjunctivitis

All About Vision - Pink Eye