Family Eye Care: Tips for Choosing the Best Eye Doctor

Your eye health is extremely important so you want to make sure that you entrust your eyes to someone who has the education, training and experience to be able to monitor them carefully and spot any developing eye health issues so that you can get them treated as quickly as possible. Here are our top tips on choosing the best eye doctor.

Ask around for recommendations

One of the easiest ways of creating a shortlist of potential eye doctors is to ask around for recommendations. You almost certainly have friends, family members or colleagues living locally who already visit an eye doctor regularly. Ask them who they use and if they would recommend them. If they wouldn’t, ask them why to know who to avoid. It’s important to note that recommendations for a certain eye doctor don’t necessarily make them right for you and your family, and it’s essential that you do your own research as well.  

Look online at reviews

Pretty much everything is reviewed online these days, including eye doctors. Bear in mind that reviews published on potential candidate’s websites will have been chosen for inclusion by their team. Since any clinic isn’t going to want to publish negative reviews, it means that those included on their website aren’t going to be impartial. While it’s definitely worth looking at the reviews on specific eye doctor websites, it’s also a good idea to look at general review sites where there is likely to be a more balanced viewpoint about the care and service received.

Make sure that they are qualified and experienced

It goes without saying that you should only entrust the health of your family’s eyes to qualified and experienced professionals. Anyone who doesn’t have necessary expertise to perform eye exams, spot problems and recommend treatments could end up harming your eyes and vision. Check out their qualifications carefully and ask them about how extensive their experience is, particularly in more advanced areas of eye health, such as retinal detachment or eye cancers. If they don’t offer comprehensive care, you should ask if you will have access to a specialist if required.

Convenience matters

Although it’s not as important as choosing an eye doctor with excellent qualifications and experience, and with a good reputation, convenience matters too. Busy families can find it hard to fit extra appointments into their already-packed schedules. They may need an eyecare center that can offer appointments in the evenings or at weekends. And they will definitely want to choose somewhere that caters well for kids and is near school, home or work, with reasonable parking or good public transport links.

Do they take your insurance?

Unless you are planning on paying out of pocket, you’ll need to check that your chosen eye doctor takes your vision insurance. You may also want to explore what other payment options are available too, to make sure that you can always afford to make the health of your family’s eyes a priority.

Do they have a good choice of eyewear?

Finally, if you or one of your family need to wear glasses, you’ll want to try and choose an eyecare provider that has a good selection of eyewear. This should include a wide selection of eyeglass frames styles and sizes, plus a variety of contact lens brands.

If you would like more advice on choosing the best eye doctor, call Blue River Vision at (970) 451-0015 to reach our office in Silverthorne, Colorado.