3 ms·

my dental group actually calls/emails me on a regular basis to get me to come give them that sweet, sweet free insurance money. but note for instance that cavit

my dental group actually calls/emails me on a regular basis to get me to come give them that sweet, sweet free insurance money. but note for instance that cavities and fillings are prone to being overdiagnosed for the sake of income, not patient outcome. glasses are regularly overprescribed for the same reason. patients really need to understand the incentives and motivations of medical professionals to make the best decisions for themselves. dentistry, optometry, therapy, veterinary, and even primary care all are vulnerable to the "recurring revenue" model. it's reasonable to be skeptical of their motivations even as we go to them for help and care. that's why patients should view medical professionals as an informed but biased opinion, not an authority. the patient needs to become knowledgeable about their own malady to make the best medical decisions they can, and it's part of the professional's job to aid that journey, not to make the decisions for the patient. that's also why patients need to see multiple professionals to triangulate their best option, rather than getting locked in to a single care provider. monopoly forces are antithetical to this process. the shaman strategy is alive and well, and will be for many centuries/millenia to come (in other words, we're not uniquely advanced in the history of humanity).

bombcar 4y ago
Optometry at least you can track it (if you actually do need and use glasses) because the differences should be noticeable on the prescription. What does happen is that if you buy a new pair even with the same exact prescription, the fact that it's new and clean and not bent in anyway will make it look much clearer. So that can trick people into thinking they need yearly new glasses. A good optometrist will tell you when your prescription has stopped changing and when they expect it to start changing again (usually in your 40s).
- clairity 4y ago
  sure, but wearing glasses also weakens your eye muscles. we're living, dynamic, nonlinear, and stochastic systems, not automata with orthogonal settings that we can tweak simply. glasses can actually make the problem worse (i've personally experienced this in my younger, naiver days[0]). optometrists don't question orthodoxy because doing so could threaten profits. note, that's not to advocate the other extreme of never trusting anyone about anything, but every decision is a trade-off and has drawbacks. the visual acuity afforded by glasses should clearly outweigh the downsides, rather than outsourcing your brain to a hammer-wielding optometrist. [0]: i still have dry-eye from an eye infection that was likely caused by contacts. that was actually the impetus for getting rid of corrective lenses altogether and the subsequent realization that i didn't need them in the first place.

bombcar 4y ago

Optometry at least you can track it (if you actually do need and use glasses) because the differences should be noticeable on the prescription. What does happen is that if you buy a new pair even with the same exact prescription, the fact that it's new and clean and not bent in anyway will make it look much clearer. So that can trick people into thinking they need yearly new glasses. A good optometrist will tell you when your prescription has stopped changing and when they expect it to start changing again (usually in your 40s).

clairity 4y ago
sure, but wearing glasses also weakens your eye muscles. we're living, dynamic, nonlinear, and stochastic systems, not automata with orthogonal settings that we can tweak simply. glasses can actually make the problem worse (i've personally experienced this in my younger, naiver days[0]). optometrists don't question orthodoxy because doing so could threaten profits. note, that's not to advocate the other extreme of never trusting anyone about anything, but every decision is a trade-off and has drawbacks. the visual acuity afforded by glasses should clearly outweigh the downsides, rather than outsourcing your brain to a hammer-wielding optometrist. [0]: i still have dry-eye from an eye infection that was likely caused by contacts. that was actually the impetus for getting rid of corrective lenses altogether and the subsequent realization that i didn't need them in the first place.