I have problems with my eyes that no corrective surgery can fix. Basically I can only see well out of my left eye and I am lacking in depth perception. In order to be an optometrist do you have to have perfect or close to perfect vision?
Need to see well in Optometry?
- Thread starter kbxc
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My dad was an OD with keratoconus. BCVA on a good day was between 20/30 and 20/40. He practiced just fine for 30 years.
Can't comment on the lack of depth perception though.
Can't comment on the lack of depth perception though.
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I know of several ODs who were amblyopic in school (down to 20/200). THey had a tough time with the slit lamp and the binocular indirect but they got by. You should do ok. Just be sure you know your limitations and have sufficient strategies to compensate.
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During my first year I was interested in knowing my professors prespective on if it were possible for a blind person to become an optometrist. There seems like so much equiptment that it may be okay. Over time it has become obvious how impossible this is. Oh there are machines designed to take pictures of the retina and analyze them, others tied with specific diseases in the retina, and still others to make refraction and vision easier, but after the battery of diseases and problems I've been introduced to I can't see how it can be done.
I'm a student and not a doctor so the above comments definately have more credibility than I do, but when you think about all the diseases and all the things you should be able to see! Lawsuits for missing signs pointing to MS or glaucoma. A person with perfect vision can miss these especially when they aren't looking for some of them, but when a person can't see them, it seems like they are walking into litigation.
Can colorblind doctors give color tests? I dare say it happens everyday. But what about the doctor who has VA's of 20/80. Could they determine the level of diabetic retinopathy a patient has? Could they effectively communicate to an ophthalmalogist about what is going on in the retina for every disease? I doubt it. It seems this may cause problems when people who cary the OD after their name aren't capable of these decisions. It casts a shadow over those who are.
I'm a student and not a doctor so the above comments definately have more credibility than I do, but when you think about all the diseases and all the things you should be able to see! Lawsuits for missing signs pointing to MS or glaucoma. A person with perfect vision can miss these especially when they aren't looking for some of them, but when a person can't see them, it seems like they are walking into litigation.
Can colorblind doctors give color tests? I dare say it happens everyday. But what about the doctor who has VA's of 20/80. Could they determine the level of diabetic retinopathy a patient has? Could they effectively communicate to an ophthalmalogist about what is going on in the retina for every disease? I doubt it. It seems this may cause problems when people who cary the OD after their name aren't capable of these decisions. It casts a shadow over those who are.
