What is the difference between a Optician, Optometrist and an Ophthalmologist?

What is the difference between a Optician, Optometrist and an Ophthalmologist?

Opticians are people who make your eyeglasses, fit them to your face, adjust the nose pads; they're the people you walk into and talk to in the mall when you walk into the eyeglass store. Optometrists are people who specialize in measuring the eyes. They prescribe glasses and contact lenses, and they also do primary eye care. They'll examine your eyes, find out if you have eye diseases and, in fact, treat many of the relatively basic eye diseases. Optometrists cannot do surgery. Ophthalmologists do medical and surgical diagnoses and treatment of eye diseases and they also provide primary eye care. So, generally, if you need surgery on your eye, you're seeing an ophthalmologist.