Looking For An Optometry Clinic in Edmonton? Find Personalized Eye Care at eye-deology Vision Care
Our family-owned optometry clinic offers complete eye exams, specialty testing, prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses, safety glasses, contact lenses, designer frames and custom lenses. Our optometrists and opticians use the latest technologies to provide patient-first personalized eye care and eyewear that enables our patients to see, and be, their their very best. Not a resident of the Edmonton area? Scroll down to learn how to find the best eye care where you live.
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10 Secrets To Finding The Best Eye Care
Your eyes and vision are critically important to your quality of life. Healthy eyes and clear vision promote effective development and learning, are necessary to perform a multitude of activities and tasks (e.g., work, driving, reading, etc.), help keep individuals safe, and enable one to enjoy life to the fullest extent. Maintaining eye health and clear vision is a big responsibility that lasts an entire lifetime. Seeking out an optometrist or eye care provider that provides exceptional care can deliver huge benefits over one’s life. Unfortunately, the level of eye care provided is not the same everywhere, nor is it always easy to establish who offers the best eye care. Here are some secrets to finding the best eye care available in your area.
| 1. | Optometrist Experience |
All licensed optometrists in Canada have numerous years of education and are qualified to provide eye care. However, experienced optometrists have seen and treated thousands of patients and diagnosed a multitude of ocular and systemic diseases and disorders. Why is this important? Because real-world conditions and textbook examples rarely align. Does this mean one should never see a recent graduate? No, it certainly does not. However, it is essential to be mindful of how recent graduates are being mentored by senior optometrists on-site. Clinics with experienced, senior resident optometrists (i.e., the primary clinic optometrist) can often been an indicator of experience and strong mentorship.
| 2. | Clinics Specializing in Eye Care |
Not all locations offering eye care services specialize in or focus on eye care. Big box stores, such as Walmart, Superstore, and Costco, offer eye care services, but their specialty is homewares and perishable goods, not providing eye care. Big box stores commonly hire or contract optometrists to administer eye care services, but their primary corporate focus and fundamental reason for existence are retail sales. That is obvious in the number and type of resources (i.e., professionally trained staff, technologies, space, time, etc.) they allocate to providing eye care services. The best eye care is provided by those completely committed, dedicated, and invested in providing it. As with most things, it is near impossible to be the best at something when one only does it part-time or in a half-hearted way.
| 3. | Number, Type, & Quality Of Tests |
The number, type, and quality of individual tests and scans included in an eye exam are not the same everywhere. The difference in the number and types of tests included is often why exam fees differ between locations. Given that the human eye has 2 million parts and that vision loss is irreversible, it is essential to ensure that your eye exam will be thorough. Accordingly, ask how many individual tests, scans, and evaluations are included in a standard eye exam at a location. The types of tests, scans, and assessments are also important, especially in the context of providing a complementary mix of traditional and modern diagnostic assessments (See Our Advanced Diagnostic Technologies).
| 4. | Advanced Diagnostic Technologies |
Advanced diagnostic technologies, such as wide-angle, high-resolution retinal photography, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging, Humphrey Visual Field, and corneal topography, enable optometrists to see more detailed, comprehensive views of the eye than through the use of traditional tools. These technologies promote the early detection and treatment of eye diseases that cause irreversible vision loss. Studies have demonstrated that they enable eye disease detection as many as ten years earlier than traditional manual diagnostic tools. The best eye care requires the best tools and technologies, and these tools and technologies need to play a role in standard comprehensive eye exams. Accordingly, it is essential to know that an eye care provider possesses these technologies AND uses them as part of their typical comprehensive eye exams.
| 5. | Exam Thoroughness & Duration |
Specializing in eye care, the number of tests included in an eye exam, and the use of advanced diagnostic technologies are all meaningful indicators of exam thoroughness. Studies have shown that places specializing in eye care are less likely to rush through your exam in an attempt to funnel you onto daily specials in the snack aisle. Likewise, it is reasonable to infer that more tests and scans promote thoroughness and are better than fewer. And lastly, the inclusion of advanced diagnostic scans in standard eye exams is a strong indicator that the eye care provider is committed to thoroughness and invests in the well-being of their patients accordingly.
Other indicators of thoroughness that should be explored include inquiring about exam duration and the amount of time typically spent with the optometrist. It is essential to evaluate exam duration in the context of the previously mentioned indicators, as exam length by itself may, on occasion, be a better indicator of inefficiency rather than thoroughness. Time spent (or percentage of time spent) with the optometrist is also a good metric of eye care quality, as many clinics offload exam activities, such as refraction or contact lens fitting, onto non-doctor personnel.
| 6. | Clinic Ownership |
Clinic ownership is often unknown information. However, it can critically influence the standard of eye care and service provided. Being the biggest chain of stores or clinics or being the most vertically integrated multinational company does not guarantee that patients receive the best care. There are several noteworthy aspects of large companies and corporations that challenge their ability to provide the best eye care. First, large companies often have shareholders. Shareholder demands for profitability and growth can often conflict with making the investments needed (e.g. new technologies, training, staff, etc.) to provide the best care to patients. Second, large companies often embrace one-size-fits-all policies and standards incompatible with the concept of personalized care. Lastly, companies with headquarters elsewhere often become disconnected from their patient base and the localized needs of patients. It’s true, larger companies often have more resources than smaller independent clinics, but the primary concern of patients should be how much of those resources are being directly dedicated to caring for you and your eyes.
| 7. | Professional Staff |
Professional staff, both in terms of credentials and behaviour, are essential to providing exceptional eye care. Optometrists are all highly educated, but the criteria for being professional goes beyond the acquisition of academic degrees - behaviour, knowledge and performance matter. A knowledgeable, proficient optometrist with a friendly, caring demeanour is always desirable. Likewise, an experienced, friendly and knowledgeable licensed optician is always preferred when it comes to selecting, measuring, and crafting your prescription eyewear. Optometrists and opticians who ask lots of questions, want to learn more about you, and listen to your unique needs, often provide the best care.
| 8. | Exceptional Eyeglass and Contact Lens Personalization |
Prescription eyeglass lenses do not cure eye diseases, but they are critically important to correct refractive errors and for patients to see clearly. If you have a moderate-to-high prescription, require multifocal lenses, have considerably different prescriptive needs for each eye, or suffer from disorders such as keratoconus, you need an eye care professional that can personalize your eyewear. That corresponds to the ability to diagnose your prescriptive needs, assess your lifestyle needs (i.e., how you use your eyes), present lens type/design options, accurately measure lenses, and professionally craft them. New prescription eyeglass and contact lens designs are in continuous development and refined to address unique patient vision needs. That is especially the case with multifocal lenses and lens coatings. It is critically important that you seek an eye care and eyewear provider with access to and offers prescription eyeglass lenses from innovative, world-class manufacturers, such as Hoya, Zeiss, and Essilor, etc. It is equally important to seek an eye care and eyewear provider that can custom-fit eyeglasses and contact lenses using the latest digital measurement tools and advanced diagnostic technologies.
| 9. | Response to Emergent Situations |
How an eye care provider responds to emergent situations can be a strong indicator of professionalism, care and overall service provided by the clinic. As a prospective patient, this can often be a challenging attribute or quality to assess. However, there are often reviews of clinics from individuals who experienced an emergency and visited the clinic. Those reviews can often be a good metric for assessing a clinic’s response to those experiencing an emergent situation. However, please be mindful that most patients who have experienced an emergency do not document their health issues online. Accordingly, word-of-mouth accounts may be required to gain insights.
Most (95%) eye emergencies require a follow-up exam to assess patient recovery and treatment. If you visit a clinic for an eye emergency and no follow-up exam is recommended or scheduled, then your recovery may not be their primary concern.
| 10. | Eye Exam Importance & Priority |
When looking for the best eye care, it is essential to seek out a provider that makes eye exams and eye health their number one priority. What are indicators of a provider that does that? First, their primary focus is eye care (See #2). Second, they invest in the technologies and devote the time and human resources to providing modern comprehensive eye care (See #3, #4, and #5). Third, they include advanced scans (e.g., digital retinal photography, OCT imaging, visual field screening, etc.) in their standard eye exams and do not withhold them as a means to advertise low (initial) exam fees. That is important both in terms of standard care quality and transparency. Lastly, they do not discount or waive exam fees as part of any retail promotion. In fact, in many Canadian jurisdictions, this practice is illegal as it could jeopardize the standard of care offered to patients.
Our Edmonton Optometrists
Searching for an optometrist in Edmonton? Our experienced Edmonton eye doctors use advanced modern technologies and devote upwards of 500% more time towards providing personalized patient care than elsewhere so that they can see more and ensure that you may never see less. Position yourself to see the future with a visit to our eye clinic and Edmonton's best eye care!
Dr. Jennifer Ash, OD
Dr. Jennifer Ash is the Resident Optometrist at Eye-deology Vision Care. Dr. Ash provides patient care 5 days a week. Read more about Dr. Ash.
Dr. Ruhee Kurji, OD
Dr. Ruhee Kurji is an Associate Optometrist at Eye-deology Vision Care. Dr. Kurji provides patient care Tuesdays & Fridays. Read more about Dr. Kurji.
Dr. Jade McLachlin, OD
Dr. Jade McLachlin is an Associate Optometrist at Eye-deology Vision Care. Dr. McLachlin provides patient care 5 days a week. Read more about Dr. McLachlin.
Learn Why Our Edmonton Optometrists Are The Best!