Can an optometrist diagnose eye disease?
An optometrist can detect signs of disease during an examination and will refer you onward, and the diagnosis and treatment of eye disease sits with an ophthalmologist, a doctor who has completed specialist training and can perform surgery.
- Subject
- Surgery journey
- Topic
- Eye tests & scans
- Kind of question
- Can I…
- Last reviewed
- 22 September 2026
In more detail
This matters in a surgical clinic for a specific reason: ask who will be examining you and who will be operating. In some clinics the assessment is done by one practitioner and the treatment by another, which is not necessarily wrong, but you are entitled to know.
What this answer depends on
- The training and licence of the person examining you
- Whether they refer on when a finding needs specialist care
- Whether the person who assesses you also operates
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Where this answer sits
It is one of 483 answers in the vision and eye health knowledge base, filed under The surgery journey in Eye tests & scans . The subject page carries the answers either side of it, and the hub is searchable.
Subjects this question touches
The pages that answer the subject behind the question, rather than the question itself.
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This information is for educational purposes and does not replace an examination by a qualified eye-care professional.
General answers cannot tell you what is happening in your own eyes. Only an examination by a qualified ophthalmologist can do that.
Sources & further reading
We prefer primary sources. Where a claim comes from a manufacturer, a single study or a regulator, it is labelled as such below.
- UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention
The federal health authority for the UAE, relevant to facilities licensed outside the Dubai Health Authority system.
Used for Explaining which authority licenses which facility.
Link checked 22 September 2026
- Health regulatory authorities in the United Arab Emirates
The UAE government’s own listing of the federal health authority and of the emirate-level health authorities, naming which part of the country each one covers.
Used for Explaining that more than one authority licenses healthcare in the UAE; Explaining which body to approach about a licensed facility.
Link checked 24 September 2026