Craig - For starters, here in France and in UK (prob same all over EU) an optomertrist may not/cannot prescribe. So one goes to an optomertrist for a check up. Now, depending on the optomertrist, that is, depending on his equipment, it 'can' be a good thing to go to an optomertrist in order to get A DX... But, this does depend on his equipment. (My optomertrist in the UK is fantasttic, has equipment better than you'll find in most hospitals, let alone in clinics, or opthalmologists or with other optomertrists. I will NOW go to him for check-ups, unless of course I 'can' find anyone here WITH such excellent equipment.)
Check out the Heidelburg 11i - takes 3D photos, can spot glaucoma 8yrs in advance of other technologies... Then the Carl Zeiss Meditec HFA ll - this takes the peripheral vision, plots it and defines the complete eye vis-aa-vis 'dead' points, semi-dead, blurry, near-to blurry etc tc. Most just give a 'pointer', but this new camera is really spot on.
The 'big' clinic I went to here, for my script, did not have anything like to the equipment... ONLY had the old pretty much out-dated 'puffer' to test the IOP (intra optic pressures).
But, for scripts, you'll need to see an opthalmologist - and hope that the opthomologist, who 'can' prescribe also has the equipment!
Cut to the meat? Opthomologist: Find the BEST eye dept you can, the BEST eye person you can, and stick with them.
