Well, if you are in the States that makes more sense because over there every tom dick and harry is a doctor
In the UK you become an optician (think they are properly called optometrists now) after 3 years at uni and a year pre-reg training. Even a medical doctor is an undergraduate qualification.
All opticians do for four years is eyes. It's been a long time, but my recollection is doing perhaps 50 hours of opthalmology at med school. Quite a lot of that was watching a surgeon look down a microscope into somebody elses eye, boring and useless education or what.
The requirements for passing med finals is being able to turn your opthalmoscope on and pointing the correct bit at the patient. If you can see and describe the optic disc as a med student then you are in danger of being called for a distinction viva. You don't really need to be able to use an opthalmoscope properly until you do your MRCP, and very few GPs have done that.
Now that doesn't mean that all GP's are duffers at use of the opthalmoscope, because they aren't. But some are, and you don't know which ones when their receptionist makes the appointment.
Well, generalisations, but still pretty accurate.
I'd go see the optician. If I had a sore tooth I'd go to the dentist. If I had a sore arm I'd probably go to a physio. If I didn't have a clue I'd go to my GP, they are better at fixing people who don't have a clue than people with flashing lights in their eyes. After excluding anything really bad, I bet the GP sends the patient off to an optician. An optician can exclude things that are really bad and do a lot more too.