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Seeing an eye doctor when you need to is important. You need to be properly informed about eye doctor treatments and eye health to achieve optimal vision and avoid eye problems.

The following are six things you shouldn't assume about visiting the eye doctor. 

Your eye doctor's only job is to give you a prescription for corrective lenses.

While correcting your vision with an appropriate prescription is an important part of an eye doctor's job, it is not the only thing your eye doctor will do.

During routine appointments, your eye doctor will also perform certain tests to check up on your overall eye health. Eye doctors will typically check for signs of conditions like macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma while also formulating a prescription for your corrective lenses. 

You only need to schedule an appointment with your eye doctor if you notice a problem.

Going in for an eye doctor appointment once in a while is important even if you don't need corrective lenses. This is especially true as you get older and you become more at risk for conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration. 

Your eye doctor can provide all of the eye care treatments that you might need.

If you have certain eye conditions, you might need to be referred to a specialist to provide you with the treatments you need. Conditions such as diabetic eye disease, blepharitis, and cataracts may need to be treated by an ophthalmologist who is capable of performing eye surgery rather than a general eye doctor. 

It's too expensive to see an eye doctor.

You shouldn't assume that you can't afford treatments from an eye doctor because you don't carry any insurance coverage. Many services you rely on an eye doctor for may actually be surprisingly affordable for you if you pay out of pocket. 

All eye doctors are the same.

There are numerous types of professionals out there who might be loosely labeled as opticians, eye doctors, or ophthalmologists. Eye doctors might also specialize in terms of the types of patients they treat. For example, some eye doctors might specialize in treating pediatric patients. 

Appointments with the eye doctor are uncomfortable.

A standard eye exam shouldn't involve any discomfort. If you are going in for an eye doctor appointment and eye exam for the first time, you can rest assured that the experience will be free from pain or discomfort.

During your appointment, you'll simply have to answer some questions about your eye and health care history and read letters and numbers from eye charts. You will probably also undergo a glaucoma test during which your eye doctor will test your response when a small puff of air is directed toward your eye with a specially designed device.  

For more info, contact a local eye doctor.