By now most of you have read or at least heard of “The Great American Eye-Exam Scam,” written by Yascha Mounk. Like many of you, my first thought was that this was a bought-and-paid-for hatchet job and that Mounk was getting something from someone for writing it. As I usually do, I Googled Yascha Mounk, and as I learned more about the man, I couldn’t help but feel that the shill shoe just didn’t seem to fit.

First, unlike many of the for-hire “experts” and pseudo-activists used by 1-800 and Visibly to write their PR hit pieces, Mounk is far too substantive for that. He’s published important books. He’s an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University and a contributing author at The Atlantic, where this opinion piece was published. In a time of fake, weaponized news, The Atlantic remains credible.

While Mounk and I share many of the same concerns about the current state of our democracy, we are clearly very far apart on what I consider a self-evident public health issue. Confused, I went back and re-read his piece again. Yascha Mounk’s journey to optometry’s dark side began with losing a pair of eyeglasses during a frightening and traumatic incident. The inability to easily replace them compounded things and was likely sufficiently frustrating to create a flash point intense enough to prompt writing a piece with a bit less thought than would be typical of someone so otherwise thoughtful and thorough.

Like Mounk I’ve travelled extensively. I am intimately familiar with the eye care and, to some extent, the overall health care environment in most of Europe, Asia, parts of Africa and Oceana. Put simply, decent eye and health care in some parts of the world is virtually non-existent. Yes, you can buy glasses without a prescription in Tangiers, but people with scarred blind eyes are a disturbingly common sight in Morocco. Likewise, you can self-prescribe contact lenses and get them from a stall in Hong Kong or purchase drugs without a prescription in Mexico; however, none of this is an acceptable rationale for adopting such indiscriminate and dangerous standards in the US. Oddly, had Mounk invested a bit more effort or asked a few more questions, he would have found that both glasses and contact lenses are as easy to get in the US without a professional exam as in Bangkok. From my perspective, that’s not usually a good thing.

The American Optometric Association did a good job of setting the facts straight, but I think I understand why Mounk saw optometry’s dogged devotion to providing comprehensive eye exams as self-serving. What is easily missed here is that his piece was neither logical nor factual. Rather, it was emotional. Mounk was angry and, at this point, I imagine a bit defensive. In truth, the only way this otherwise intelligent and perceptive man will see the importance of eye care the way we see it, is through our patients’ eyes. For that, he is welcome to visit my practice without notice or warning, and spend a day. It is amazing how much a few minutes spent being examined in a darkened room can change a patient’s life. I suspect he’d see the light as soon as he’d open his mind.

Arthur B. Epstein, OD, FAAO Chief Medical Editor artepstein@optometricphysician.com