@missopal good luck at your appointment next week. I get some information from my local optometrist (I live in a rural area). I have also gotten optometry care at Mayo, where they gave me a ton of information, both plain language and primary literature sources. I’m a scientist so I appreciate that sort of thing a lot. Due to my professional background, I find a lot of papers to read on my own as well.
As you pointed out it’s very hard to know what will be worthwhile. I think optometrists are in a tough space because so much is out of pocket for patients, so they don’t want to push expensive treatments on those who can’t afford it. But it’s hard to discern which treatments are worth trying. And which treatments even exist! That is one great thing about Mayo Clinic Connect, I learn about all sorts of treatments that were not on my radar.