Optometry outlook/as a career?

[LoganNC]

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[LoganNC]

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[gochi]

Before I get too many negative comments, I realize there is a search option, but my situation is unique and the searches I have read have not fulfilled my curiosity. I am an entering 3rd undergrad student majoring in public health/pre-health. Unlike my siblings, I have never KNOWN exactly what I wanted to do with my life. Healthcare has always been interesting to me because I have several health problems and have had tremendous exposure. Aside from an interest in healthcare in general I am not sure what route to go. My idealistic situation what put me helping people in a health field, making good money ($150k or more), having ample time with my family, and allowing me to volunteer abroad. How exactly to go about this, I am not sure. As far as optometry is concerned, my interest is sparked from my 22 years of life. My father is an optometrist in a solo-private practice in a rural community in NC. Needless to say, I have been exposed to the profession since day one. I have begun shadowing my father and think optometry would allow me to get the things I want out of life. If I decided to go the optometry route, I would have a practice with 2 offices and a prison site waiting for me upon graduation. My dad works 4 days a week and with perks makes over $200k/year. My fear lies in the stability of optometry. The fear is born of pure ignorance. My father doesn't like to talk too much about optometry because he doesn't want to make me feel obligated to follow in his footsteps. Recently he has seen a slight decline in patients due to the current economy. So with my background stated, here is where I am confused. Does the 5-10-20-30 year outlook for optometry look pretty stable? With more and more "strip mall" and Wal-Mart optometry clinics popping up I am concerned (pure ignorance to the market). Secondly, should I be worried that I am not dead set on optometry? Many people mention such a deep passion for optometry. My passion is for helping people in general. Is that enough to make me a successful optometrist? One of the issues for me in becoming an MD/DO is the additional years of school/residency. I would like to start a family in my late 20s and also be able to travel. I am left knowing that currently optometry is conducive to the lifestyle I would like, but will it stay that way and how exactly do I know if it is my "calling"? Thanks in advance!

Wow.

My answer, no.

 

[curious cat]

Sure, I think the outlook is great! Why bother going to med school and going through all those silly years of med school and residency and stuff. They don't teach much there anyway. It's mainly just a waste of time. They don't know squat about optics.

Optometry is great! You get to see all the cool patients and you get to do surgery. Well, maybe not yet, but I'd give the lobbyists a few years to get it done. Don't listen to all that mumbo jumbo about having to go to med school to do surgery, etc. All we really have to do is be active politically, and we can legislate ourselves to becoming ubercool eye surgeons. I mean, we outnumber those nerdy ophthalmologist by like a gazillion to 3. Plus, we give more money per optometrist. Then we can call ourselves something lofty like optometric physician and surgeon. I know it's a mouthful, but it sounds really nice to my ears.

Optometry rocks!! Steel is to heal, baby! Metal is medicine! Cut is to cure!!

 

[KHE]

Sure, I think the outlook is great! Why bother going to med school and going through all those silly years of med school and residency and stuff. They don't teach much there anyway. It's mainly just a waste of time. They don't know squat about optics.

Optometry is great! You get to see all the cool patients and you get to do surgery. Well, maybe not yet, but I'd give the lobbyists a few years to get it done. Don't listen to all that mumbo jumbo about having to go to med school to do surgery, etc. All we really have to do is be active politically, and we can legislate ourselves to becoming ubercool eye surgeons. I mean, we outnumber those nerdy ophthalmologist by like a gazillion to 3. Plus, we give more money per optometrist. Then we can call ourselves something lofty like optometric physician and surgeon. I know it's a mouthful, but it sounds really nice to my ears.

Optometry rocks!! Steel is to heal, baby! Metal is medicine! Cut is to cure!!

That was quite unhelpful.

 

[KHE]

Before I get too many negative comments, I realize there is a search option, but my situation is unique and the searches I have read have not fulfilled my curiosity. I am an entering 3rd undergrad student majoring in public health/pre-health. Unlike my siblings, I have never KNOWN exactly what I wanted to do with my life. Healthcare has always been interesting to me because I have several health problems and have had tremendous exposure. Aside from an interest in healthcare in general I am not sure what route to go.

I would start by asking your some of your father's colleagues their opinions. If you feel that you can't get an honest answer from your dad, see if he can set you up with 5 different doctors so that you can spend some time with them asking those questions.

 

[JMU07]

Optometry rocks!! Steel is to heal, baby! Metal is medicine! Cut is to cure!!

I wouldn't really take this guy seriously... he has a lot of dumb posts about becoming an OD and "backdooring" his way into surgery.


I've known for a long time that I wanted to do optometry, but part of my decision was also based on the fact that I wanted to help people. Bad vision runs in my family and it's always fascinated me. (luckily it didn't get passed to me!) I would suggest shadowing optometrists in a couple different settings just to see what else is out there. Like KHE said, talk to a few and get their opinions. Just don't expect what they say to always be rainbows and sunshine.

Also, if making a lot of money is a big factor, I'm not sure optometry would be right for you. Yes, there is opportunity to make a lot of money, and if you're going to inherit your dad's practice, you'll most likely get that opportunity. But there are many ODs who don't make $150k.

 

[Dr Gump]

I feel I should elaborate a little more. My dad's practice is in a farming community with a low cost of living. Additionally, with it being a rural community, his practice consists of a LOT of glaucoma, diabetes, and so on. He has a contract with an opthamologist and does a lot of the post-surgery check-ups himself. On the first day I shadowed him our 3rd patient had a hemorrhage (which for me, opened to my eyes to the fact that optometrist do much more than just fit glasses or contacts). Maybe 40-50% of his patient are refraction only. The rest have some additional conditions (diabetes, cataracts, glaucoma, and so on). I guess I am mostly interested in the opinion of other optometrist on the potential future of such a practice.

My practice is similar to your dad's. I am as busy as I want and am actually looking for an associate. The future is bright, even with the addition of the new schools. The majority of new students are dead set on living in a large metropolitan area. This is where most of the other Optometrists are located. The rural community needs care just like the rest. If you address this need, you will do fine.

I can't even get anyone interested in practicing in my neck of the woods. I guess it is not sexy enough.

You must find a niche and take care of your patients. The rest will fall into place. You sound like you are perfectly capable of doing these things.

I also wanted to take care of people...didn't have a passion for Optometry. Things fell into place nicely...not without some sacrifice, but I am completely fulfilled with my choice of occupation.

Good luck with your decision,

Dr. Gump

 

[4Eyes]

There is nothing wrong with being in your situation. However, I would do a lot of researching before pursuing optometry...otherwise, you could very well end up unhappy. As you can see, there is a lot of flaming on these boards when people go into optometry just because it's some sort of health care or they want to "help people," etc. etc. I think these are fine starts, but you can't just stay in this situation. But what I'm getting from you is that you don't intend to steamroll ahead into optometry without doing some research and soul-searching first. Am I right?

Anyway, I was in a similar situation to you. When I was in high school, I thought about optometry, but by the time I started college, I considered myself a pre-med student. During my sophomore year, I realized I did NOT feel good about this. I wondered what my family life would be like, and I felt really unsettled. At this point, I had to do a lot of thinking because I was still interested in health care and I still wanted to continue my education, but I wasn't sure HOW. I remembered that I had considered optometry before, so I started looking into it some more. For me, the answer was to do a LOT of shadowing. The more I learned, the more I enjoyed it, and by the time it was time to start applying to schools, I felt really good about my decision to pursue optometry. I also had experience shadowing an MD in the field I was interested in before, and I also researched some other health care professions (e.g. dentistry), but I realized quickly that these were not for me.

If your dad realizes that you're serious about learning more about optometry, is it possible to make him understand that you won't feel like he's pressuring you? He knows your situation best, and I'm sure he wants the best for you, so it would make sense for him to fill you in a bit, especially if you're to work with him in his practice in the future.

In any case, I agree that you should spend some time observing in other practices just to get a better idea of how different places work. Especially if your dad wants to see that you're interested in OPTOMETRY, not just "optometry with Dad" or "optometry at Dad's office."

 

[blysssful]

As the other posts mention, you seriously have to do some soul-searching to make sure this is what you really want. It would kind of suck if you went through 4 years of Opt school to realize that you want to do something else...

I have similar lifestyle desires (travelling in my 20s, having adequate time for family, etc) and a career in Optometry meets those desires... but these things are not WHY I want to become an optometrist.

As for the stability of the profession... there are a lot of factors involved, but healthcare on the whole is going to be a lot more stable than other professions that can be completely replaced by technology.

On a sidenote, organizations like Doctors Without Borders could really be great for someone like you who wants to see the world before settling down.

 

[LoganNC]

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