Telemedicine and Your Eyes: Emergency Eye Care and Eye Wear During COVID 19

Dr. Coward and Associates, your Ontario Optometrists, are now offering telemedicine to better serve patients during this difficult time. But what is telemedicine?

Telemedicine is a phone or video consultation with your Optometrist that helps them to determine the nature of your eye emergency. Through telemedicine, Optometrists are often able to diagnose and treat your eye conditions, without you having to leave your home. Telemedicine has been around for many years but has had a recent surge in popularity because of the need to social distance lately. Beyond social distancing, telemedicine is useful for people that are unable to come in for an urgent eye exam for various reasons (rurally located, poor health, etc).

If you are experiencing an eye emergency, call our office and let us know the details of your eye problems. Our friendly staff will triage your eye emergency to our Optometrists, who will arrange a telemedicine consultation with you to discuss your eye issues. When possible, they will diagnose your eye condition and provide treatment options. Telemedicine is a very useful tool during the COVID 19 pandemic as it allows Optometrists and many other doctors to provide care and treatment while still being able to maintain social distancing measures.

However, it is important to note that for some types of ocular emergencies or ocular conditions, an in-person eye exam may be recommended as more in-depth information about your eye condition will need to be obtained. For example, having a digital retinal scan on our in-office OCT can be sight saving because it helps identify bleeding and fluid in the back of your eye (your retina).

Video consultation is also useful for choosing new glasses. It is nearly impossible during this pandemic to go into an optical store and physically try on eyewear, which is why many companies are providing online alternatives. At Dr. Coward and Associates, we offer Virtual Try On: you can click through our frame catalogue on our website and virtually try on the frames that you love from the comfort of your own home. Our staff can speak to you face-to-face through our Virtual Consult to help you with eyewear and lens selection.

Phone and video consultations are useful for diagnosing and treating eye conditions as well as helping you with your eyewear needs. Give us a call at our office or click on our Virtual Consult button to learn more today. Our Belleville, Trenton and Brighton Ontario Optometrists are always here for you!