Editor:
If you wear glasses and need eye care you may find yourself blind-sided. On a recent appointment with an ophthalmologist, I was shocked to find that he wouldn’t be asking me, “Better one, or two?” Instead, I needed an optometrist for an eyeglass prescription. An optician told me that the two professions were driving each other business and this was a truce.
But it’s a war against patients who pay twice over and BC Health paying two practitioners, for patients under 18 and over 64. But is this a law? No, the province states that both ophthalmologists and optometrists are certified to prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses (healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/eye-care-specialists). However, ophthalmologists may choose not to do so, instead performing exams, doing surgery, and treating eye diseases (bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/33_2009).
If you wear glasses and require the care of an ophthalmologist, you may want to call around to look for one that does both services. Where I live on the Sunshine Coast, we only have two ophthalmologists, so it makes total sense to have them focus on preserving sight.
Better one, or two eye doctors?
Yours warmly,
Cathalynn Labonte-Smith
Gibsons
