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Do you guys fear that the need for optometrists may decline as more and more people have laser eye surgery done? Or am I just mis-analyzing this?
Optometry & Laser Eye Surgery
- Thread starter Pursuing MD
- Start date
I'm glad that you asked ... and I'm glad this place provides a fourm that allows other health care professionals to discuss and learn more about eachother.
While more and more people are going the route of laser eye surgery to correct their ametropia, many others choose not to follow this route. Optometrists are much more than doctors who merely dispense glasses. We provide complete primary eye health care. So regardless if people need glasses or not, they should be receiving regular eye exams. There was a survey just published showing that Americans spend $4.5B on hair care, while only spending $900M on eye care, and less than half of the population receives regular eye exams. So there's more than enough room for ODs. On top of that, there are services such as pediatric eye exams, post-op/co-management, contact lenses, ortho-K, medical management, binocular vision and the list goes on that ODs provide!
Did dentistry die once flouride was put into drinking water?
Hope this helps
Take care.
While more and more people are going the route of laser eye surgery to correct their ametropia, many others choose not to follow this route. Optometrists are much more than doctors who merely dispense glasses. We provide complete primary eye health care. So regardless if people need glasses or not, they should be receiving regular eye exams. There was a survey just published showing that Americans spend $4.5B on hair care, while only spending $900M on eye care, and less than half of the population receives regular eye exams. So there's more than enough room for ODs. On top of that, there are services such as pediatric eye exams, post-op/co-management, contact lenses, ortho-K, medical management, binocular vision and the list goes on that ODs provide!
Did dentistry die once flouride was put into drinking water?
Hope this helps
Take care.
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Also, don't forget that laser surgery isn't for everyone. There will always be a sizeable segment of the population who are not candidates for LASIK, PRK, or other procedures who will need vision correction with glasses or contacts. There's also a lot of opportunity for optometrists to be part of pre-/post-surgical care.
