Opticians:
Are health professionals trained to supply, prepare and dispense optical appliances, interpret prescriptions prepared by Ophthalmologists and Optometrists, and fit, adjust and adapt optical appliances. In some jurisdictions in Canada, Opticians are also known as Ophthalmic Dispensers. In Ontario, Opticians are regulated by the College of Opticians of Ontario.

Optometrists:
Are health professionals trained to assess the eye and visual system sensory and ocular motor disorders and dysfunctions of the eye and the visual system and diagnose refractive disorders. An Optometrist prescribes and dispenses corrective devices. In Ontario Optometrists are regulated by the College of Optometrists of Ontario.

Ophthalmologists:
Are medical doctors who specialize in eye and vision care, diagnosis and treatment of eye disease and provide eye exams, prescribe corrective lenses, prescribe and administer medication and perform surgery. In Ontario, Ophthalmologists are regulated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
- College of Opticians of Ontario http://www.coptont.org/about/eyecare.html

Vision is the window of the mind, the primary way we perceive the world around us. About 80% of the information that reaches us comes through the eyes. Yet most people take their eyes for granted. Modern life puts enormous stresses on our visual system. More and more people in today's society are expecting their eyes to do work for which they were never intended.

Schooling occupies from 13-25 years of our lives and is virtually synonymous with reading. We are asked to read rapidly and accurately for hours on end. If we can't do that, we'll fall behind the rest!

One of the better kept secrets of our time is the devastating effect that an untreated visual problem can have on an individual's ability to learn. Most children with visual disorders have no idea that they are seeing the world differently than the rest of their peers.

As humans, we are born with SIGHT, but VISION is learned. SIGHT occurs in the eyes alone, but VISION is the interplay between the eyes and the brain, and all takes place behind the retina. It is our brain that reconstructs and interprets the eye's images to ultimately give meaning to the eye's messages. This learned process begins early on and can take many paths along the way that should be observed, monitored, and corrected, if need be. The good news is that most visual disorders can be readily treated.

This overwhelmingly dominant sense, SIGHT, so shapes our perception of the world around us that, in a large measure, we are what we SEE, not what we touch, hear or smell.

Make your eye care a priority for your future. Don't let your visual problems go undiagnosed and untreated.
- Dr. Brian Hadden
Optometrist

Vision standards are necessary to enable comparisons of people's visual capabilities. The most common standard used today is the eye chart based on the work of Dr. Hermann Snellen, the Dutch Ophthalmologist who in 1862 designed a system for describing human vision. Dr. Snellen found that certain letters of the alphabet, when of a certain size, could be seen easily at a particular distance by the average normal eye. This relationship – size of letters viewed from a specific distance – has become a standard way for recording visual acuity.

The Snellen eye chart is composed of a series of letters, the largest at the top with gradually smaller ones below. For small children and others who cannot read the alphabet, eye charts composed of objects other than letters are used, such as the letter 'E' facing in different direction, broken circles with a missing segment facing in different directions, or small pictures of common objects.

The Snellen fraction-like numbers have nothing to do with the power of your eyeglasses. They cannot be used for ordering a pair of glasses or contact lenses to correct your vision.
- Magnific’s Inc. http://www.thephonemonocle.com/medical/MeasuringVision.htm

When visual acuity is measured, each eye is always checked alone while the other is covered. In the term 20/20, the first number represents 20 feet – the distance between the eye being tested and the eye chart. The second number represents the distance that an average eye can see the letters on a particular line of the chart. Thus, 20/20 indicate that the eye being tested can read a specific 'normal' size letter when it is 20 feet away.

You may have 20/20 vision without corrective glasses or only when wearing your proper correction, so that fact needs to be noted. It is a person's corrected vision that is most important in determining best vision capacity.

Your 20/20 vision describes visual acuity, and nothing else. It does not guarantee the absence of an eye disease or any other eye problems. However, it has proven to be a surprisingly reliable indicator that the eyes are normal.
- Magnific’s Inc. http://www.thephonemonocle.com/medical/MeasuringVision.htm

If you need to wear glasses to see clearly, you have a refractive error. There are four types: myopia (near sightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism (uneven focusing power), and presbyopia (age-related inability to focus up close).

Good vision depends on light rays traveling through the eye and focusing sharply on the retina at the back of the eye. As the light rays pass through the eye, they are refracted (meaning 'bent'). If rays coming from a distant object reach the retina in sharp focus, you will see clearly; but if they are not bent the precise amount, vision will be out of focus and then you have a refractive 'error'.

People with no refractive error have naturally clear and sharp eyesight without glasses. They can look at any distant object and effortlessly have it in focus. This ideal condition of natural sharp vision is called emmetropia. It occurs only when there is a perfect match between he optical power of the eye and the length of the eyeball. Like all biological mechanisms, the coordination between power and length is often not perfect, so it is not surprising to find mismatches, which is what creates refractive error. The real surprise is that it doesn't happen more often than it does.
- Drs. Fine, Hoffman & Packer http://www.finemd.com/pdfs/refractive_errors.pdf

From the moment of birth, your child is learning to see. He or she progresses from the newborn's blurry world of light and dark to the school-age child's ability to handle complex vision tasks. Toys, games and playtime activities help by stimulating this progression of vision development.

Most of us take our eyesight for granted. We do not realize how much we depend on our eyes until we have a change in vision or an eye injury. Most eye problems or injuries can be treated successfully if diagnosed early. Your child may have vision problems if you notice any of the following symptoms:

*poor hand/eye coordination
*squinting
*headaches
*rubbing eyes
*avoiding detailed activities (eg. Puzzles)

Your child should be given their first comprehensive eye exam by the age of three, unless a need is identified earlier. Your child's eyes should be examined again before entering school and every year thereafter throughout their developmental years, unless a specific problem arises.

A few tips to make your child's first eye exam a positive experience.

*talk with your child about the examination prior to the visit and encourage questions
*make the appointment early in the day so that your child is well rested
*assure your child that the examination is completely painless

Your child does not have to know the alphabet or how to read to have their eyes examined.
- EyeSite General http://www.eyesite.co.za/genchild.asp?mainbutton=general&navbutton=child