[checkdigit15]

This is a good point and also worth pointing out (in the US at least) that most ophthalmologists will be covered under your medical insurance not your eye insurance (if any) because they are medical doctors.

I was getting my contact lens exam/fitting recently and the optometrist wanted me to get something checked later by an ophthalmologist. He said it was probably nothing to worry about but made it clear that it was outside his scope of expertise to diagnose or make medical recommendations.

[leeoniya]

my wife is an optometrist.

it's amazing the stuff she finds. she's found brain tumors and literally saved people's lives by referring them early to a neuro-ophthalmologist when they came in just to update their prescription. many latent systemic problems are also clearly visible in the eye: hypertension, diabetes, etc.

[amalcon]

> This is a good point and also worth pointing out (in the US at least) that most ophthalmologists will be covered under your medical insurance not your eye insurance (if any) because they are medical doctors.

Make sure they code it correctly! I once had a rather large bill because the ophthalmologist's office accidentally billed me under a "routine" code that my medical insurance didn't cover. It took several hours of phone calls with the insurer and the ophthalmologist to get it corrected.