I was recently watching the episode when Doug takes care of the little boy that Dr. Anspaugh requested he see. And the optician (?) or eye doctor or whatever confirmed Doug's diagnosis of partial blindness. WHO IS THIS MAN? I can not figure it out, I KNOW I've seen him before. Maybe on Seinfeld...or Home Improvement...Friends maybe? I dunno. HELP!

-- Chris (LilSBGem01@aol.com), March 22, 2000

Answers

The actor's name is Iqbal Theba. He's been in various commercials and guest spots on other shows like "Married with Children", and "Space: Above and Beyond"

-- Ted Hammond (Musikology@yahoo.com), March 22, 2000.

Although I haven't seen the epi in question for a while, I think I remember it being the same guy who played the doc on "Friends" who took care of Joey during his kidney stone incident.

-- joy (joygirl01@yahoo.com), March 23, 2000.

Chris,

OPTHAMOLOGIST = person who went to med school, works in hospital/medical office/clinic and diagnoses you with glaucoma, partially detached retina, giant papillary conjunctivitis, etc.

OPTICIAN = person who took a class (maybe), works at Lenscrafters, and tells you those frames look nice on you.

FYI

-- Dao (ldao@tandberg.com), March 25, 2000.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but an optometrist also goes to medical school and can diagnose, but an opthamologist can do all that and goes for two extra years and can operate. Let me know if this is wrong.

-- Phyl (erfan@flash.net), March 25, 2000.

To clear a few things up:

An optometrist goes to a school of optometry for a three or four-year program, at the end of which he/she becomes a doctor of optometry. He/she can prescribe glasses, comtacts and some ocular meds, and can *detect* the presence of ocular disease. He/she cannot diagnose or treat it, however, nor can he/she perform surgery. This is most likely the person who does your eye exam at Lenscrafters or whatnot.

An ophthalmologist, on the other hand, is an MD who does a residency (4 years, typically) in eye disorders. He/she can, in addition to all that an optometrist does, prescribe all medications, diagnose and treat disease, and perform surgery. This is most likely who you go see if your eyes are seriously disordered, and also who an optometrist refers you to if he/she sees something funny.

-LM

-- Lindsay Murphy (murphyl@earthlink.net), March 26, 2000.