Optometrist

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Work Tasks

• Examine people's eyes to find vision problems and eye diseases and treat them
• Check the eyes for depth perception, color vision, and seeing and focusing ability
• Prescribe glasses, contacts, therapy, medicine, and low vision treatment
• Refer patients to other doctors when needed and give patients eyecare before and after eye surgery
• Work in private practice, for makers of ophthalmic products, insurance companies, practitioners, optical stores, hospitals, clinics, vision care centers, ophthalmologists, the Veterans Administration, and the military
• Work with lenses, prisms, eye testing and examining devices, eyeglasses, contact lenses, drugs, and low vision devices

Salary, Size & Growth

• $115,000 average per year ($55.25 per hour)
• A medium occupation (26,500 workers in 2010)
• Expected to grow rapidly (2.4% per year)

Education/Training

• Minimum for Entry: A bachelor's degree, including at least 3 years of pre-optometric study at an accredited college or university, and completion of a 4-year program at an accredited optometry school
• Skills/Courses: College courses include pharmacology, optics, vision science, biochemistry, and systemic disease, as well as clinical training and diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
• Certification/Licensing: All states require optometrists to be licensed.