Can ophthalmologists practice optometry?

[tennisball80]

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Say, if you are a board certified ophthalmologist and do surgery everyday. After you are tired, your don't want to do surgery anymore. However, you still want to take care of people's eyes. Can you practice as an optometrist even though you were trained as an ophthalmologist-the higher level one?

 

[Morsetlis]

There are about 10,000 eye-glass stores in Vietnam. How many of those do you think are staffed with real Optometrists? Most of the profession's work could be done by a machine.

 

[Disinence2]

It is my understanding that Ophthalmologists could practice similar to Optometrists however remember that these are 2 completely different things with completely different levels of training.

I'm not an expert on the matter though.

 

[tennisball80]

There are about 10,000 eye-glass stores in Vietnam. How many of those do you think are staffed with real Optometrists? Most of the profession's work could be done by a machine.

Maybe that's the case you do in Vietnam. Maybe I don't know about the U.S. But in Canada, you have to go to see an optometrist to get checked out before buying a part of glasses. Isn't that so in the United States of America?

 

[Kid A]

Copied from the Ophthalmology forum:

Ophthalmologists (MD or DO) can:
-- prescribe glasses and contact lenses
-- diagnose eye abnormalities and disease
-- treat all eye conditions and disease, including those of the surrounding flesh, bones, and muscle with surgery (conventional and laser surgery), medications, etc.
-- diagnose other conditions and illnesses based on symptoms evident in the eyes and refer patients to another appropriate physician for treatment
--fit, adjust and dispense eyeglasses
_______________________________
An Optometrist is not a medical doctor, but receives the degree of OD at a 4-year optometry school after completing four (or sometimes three) years of undergraduate study.

Optometrists (OD) can:
-- prescribe glasses and contact lenses
-- diagnose eye abnormalities and disease
-- treat some types of eye disease
-- diagnose other conditions and illnesses based on symptoms evident in the eyes and refer patients to another appropriate physician for treatment
--fit, adjust and dispense eyeglasses

 

[tennisball80]

That's right. I am wondering if I could go down to optometry when I retire from being an ophthalmologist.

Copied from the Ophthalmology forum:

Ophthalmologists (MD or DO) can:
-- prescribe glasses and contact lenses
-- diagnose eye abnormalities and disease
-- treat all eye conditions and disease, including those of the surrounding flesh, bones, and muscle with surgery (conventional and laser surgery), medications, etc.
-- diagnose other conditions and illnesses based on symptoms evident in the eyes and refer patients to another appropriate physician for treatment
--fit, adjust and dispense eyeglasses
_______________________________
An Optometrist is not a medical doctor, but receives the degree of OD at a 4-year optometry school after completing four (or sometimes three) years of undergraduate study.

Optometrists (OD) can:
-- prescribe glasses and contact lenses
-- diagnose eye abnormalities and disease
-- treat some types of eye disease
-- diagnose other conditions and illnesses based on symptoms evident in the eyes and refer patients to another appropriate physician for treatment
--fit, adjust and dispense eyeglasses

 

[DrBowtie]

That's right. I am wondering if I could go down to optometry when I retire from being an ophthalmologist.

You could probably make more just doing non-surgical ophtho than doing optometry. You also wouldn't have to bear the shame that comes with working at a Walmart as an MD.

 

[brooklynblunder]

not too many people get tired of doing LASIK surgeries

 

[Morsetlis]

In Oklahoma Optometrists can do LASIK surgery 😀

I used a keratectome on pig eyes in middle school. It was fun, but I don't think I was very successful ;p

 

[tennisball80]

You could probably make more just doing non-surgical ophtho than doing optometry. You also wouldn't have to bear the shame that comes with working at a Walmart as an MD.

lol.

I would like to know how it feels by wearing a white coat saying

Your name, M.D.
Wal-Mart Optometry
Save Money, Live Better!

 

[Morsetlis]

lol.

I would like to know how it feels by wearing a white coat saying

Your name, M.D.
Wal-Mart Optometry
Save Money, Live Better!

When you're 80 that's gonna be about the only job you can do.

 

[Bacchus]

If you're practicing medicine at 80 you're incompetent (aka don't know how to plan retirement or invest).

 

[Morsetlis]

Some people like to work.

 

[Bernoull]

If you're practicing medicine at 80 you're incompetent & incontinent (aka don't know how to plan retirement, invest or relief oneself at will).

I couldn't resist stealin ur line..😀😀

 

[DrBowtie]

If you're practicing medicine at 80 you're incompetent (aka don't know how to plan retirement or invest).

Debakey would say otherwise.

 

[Bacchus]

Debakey would say otherwise.

Yeah, he would. Maybe incompetent was too harsh of a word. But, I know I won't be working at 80! 😉

 

[akinetopsia]

Cataract surgeries are typically the bread and butter surgery, not LASIK, and take a little over 10 minutes from opening the eye, removing the cataract and implanting the new lens.

Dropping the surgical aspect of an ophthalmic practice tends to make an ophthalmologist into a glorified primary care doctor for eyes- managing patients' intraocular pressure, checking visual fields/visual acuity, updating prescriptions for glasses (do they want distance, reading, bifocals-progressives or not?), and some don't even bother doing contacts. The other benefit to dropping the surgical aspect is lowering your malpractice premiums.

The main difference between the non-surgical ophthalmologist and optometrist is the scope of training. Would an optometrist catch something like giant cell arteritis? Probably not.

 

[thamsenman]

If you're practicing medicine at 80 you're incompetent (aka don't know how to plan retirement or invest).

Or you just love what you do and have a 500 lb, 45-year old drug-addict, porn-addict only son, whom you have to support for a living. Suppose this doctor is 85, and a surgeon.

Someone has to pay for his son's crystal meth. Certainly can't be his stay at home wife in her late 70s.

[I know said doctor, and work is the only thing that gets him by]

 

[298609]

Or you just love what you do and have a 500 lb, 45-year old drug addict, porn-addict only son, whom you have to support for a living. Suppose this doctor is 85, and a surgeon.

[I know said doctor, and work is the only thing that gets him by]

womp womp...what a debbie downer.

 

[thamsenman]

womp womp...what a debbie downer.

dead honest, cutie.

 

[thamsenman]

One of his favorite movies is called, "Mama ****s a Black Man"

 

[ahmcadams]

This is like asking if an MD could work as an MA later on in his or her career. The far better alternative would be just to scale back the scope/intensity of your practice, transitioning towards community / free clinic work, etc., rather than doing what is essentially something else entirely.