All careers

Optometrists

  • Bright Outlook
  • Rapid Growth

Diagnose, manage, and treat conditions and diseases of the human eye and visual system. Examine eyes and visual system, diagnose problems or impairments, prescribe corrective lenses, and provide treatment. May prescribe therapeutic drugs to treat specific eye conditions.

What you’d do

  • Examine eyes, using observation, instruments, and pharmaceutical agents, to determine visual acuity and perception, focus, and coordination and to diagnose diseases and other abnormalities, such as glaucoma or color blindness.
  • Analyze test results and develop a treatment plan.
  • Prescribe, supply, fit and adjust eyeglasses, contact lenses, and other vision aids.
  • Prescribe medications to treat eye diseases if state laws permit.
  • Educate and counsel patients on contact lens care, visual hygiene, lighting arrangements, and safety factors.
  • Remove foreign bodies from the eye.
  • Provide patients undergoing eye surgeries, such as cataract and laser vision correction, with pre- and post-operative care.
  • Consult with and refer patients to ophthalmologist or other health care practitioner if additional medical treatment is determined necessary.

Skills that matter

  • Active Listening
  • Critical Thinking
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Speaking
  • Writing
  • Social Perceptiveness

How to get there

Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher

Also called

  • Optometrist
  • Optometry Doctor (OD)
  • Therapeutic Optometrist

Related careers

See all careers

  • Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric

    • Bright Outlook
    • Rapid Growth

    Diagnose and perform surgery to treat and help prevent disorders and diseases of the eye.

    Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher

  • Pediatric Surgeons

    Diagnose and perform surgery to treat fetal abnormalities and birth defects, diseases, and injuries in fetuses, premature and newborn…

    Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher

  • General Internal Medicine Physicians

    Diagnose and provide nonsurgical treatment for a wide range of diseases and injuries of internal organ systems.

    Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher

  • Dermatologists

    • Bright Outlook
    • Rapid Growth

    Diagnose and treat diseases relating to the skin, hair, and nails. May perform both medical and dermatological surgery functions.

    Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher

  • Urologists

    Diagnose, treat, and help prevent benign and malignant medical and surgical disorders of the genitourinary system and the renal glands.

    Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher

  • Neurologists

    • Bright Outlook
    • Rapid Growth

    Diagnose, manage, and treat disorders and diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, with a primarily nonsurgical focus.

    Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher