Today I am going to talk about an interesting profession which deals with eye health care. Optometry is a non-invasive and non-surgical branch of eye care, yet not limited to glass prescriptions alone. It is one of the fastest growing professions in the country and it is evident by the increasing number of eye care institutes throughout the nation. Optometry is an art and science of vision care. It is a primary eye care profession which deals with detection, diagnosis and management of vision related disorders as well as visual rehabilitation. It is a field which demands the ability to communicate with people and to work with precision and professionalism. Optometrists are the skilled professionals who take care of people’s eyes and vision by finding vision related problems and treating them by prescribing spectacles, contact lenses, providing vision therapy, rehabilitating the visually impaired and referring the needy ones for further treatment.

An optometrist needs to have good communication skills as the optometrists need to communicate with patients in the clinic. There are many other skills an optometrist acquires. Following are few of them:

•    Prescribing glasses after refractive error corrections

•    Detection of ocular and vision related diseases

•    Prescribing refractive, speciality and therapeutic contact lenses including fitting and dispensing

•    Prescribing low vision aids and assistance including rehabilitations

•    Diagnosis of oculomotor and ocular alignment related conditions like squint

•    Occupational Optometry in the industrial and the occupation sector

•    Community services as a primary eye-care provider among the less accessible section of the population

•    Providing proper guidance for the further follow-up and referral wherever required

Optometry is an extremely volatile profession which offers uncountable opportunities in one’s career. A few of them are as follows:

•    Independent eye care practitioner as in Optometric Clinic

•    Independent optical outlet

•    Clinical/speciality Optometrist in eye care hospitals

•    Optometry faculty in eye institutions

•    Multinational companies of contact lenses, ophthalmic lenses, diagnostic instruments etc.

•    Continuing studies as in post-graduation, PhD, researches etc.

Besides all the above said options, an optometrist can also contribute to the community by being a community optometrist either by joining NGO’s or through the government driven programs. Since the avoidable and preventable blindness is a huge burden to the society and considering the lack of eye care professionals in the country, there is a critical need of eye-care professionals to help the various governmental and non-governmental bodies to eradicate the burden of blindness from the nation.

 Nandadeep School of Optometry is an initiative of Nandadeep Eye Hospital, Sangli which is offering Bachelors in Optometry course and imparts a well-structured course and training to become a skillful Optometrist as well as responsible eye-care professional.