The truth as I see it.
The Good:
1. It's inside work so you don't get hot or cold. (I've worked on a road crew before and been a roofer. Those jobs suck).
2. The general unwashed Walmart public appreciates that you're a doctor (of course they have no clue the difference between an optometrist, an obstetrician and a neurosurgeon). So appreciate that for what it's worth.
3. You will have a few more friends and you'll discover some distant relatives and 2nd grade classmates that would like your services for FREE.
4. You kids might get a little more attention from teachers in school if you list your name with the "Dr." title. (and the teacher will want a discount too).
5. You can always fall back to teaching middle school science if you cant find an optometry job (with a little additional teacher training perhaps).
6. With a license, the future will be up to you somewhat. If you hussle like a madman, you can probably succeed well. But it will take the kind of effort that set Tony Robbins apart from every other motivational speaker or Billy Mays apart from everyone else wanting to make big $$ being a t.v. pitchman. (ie. part skill, part luck, part the stars aligning correctly).
7. It is a respectable job. You get to help people see better (even the ones that don't want to see clearly).
The Bad
1. There are simply too many people in the eye care industry. As an OD, your competition will be other ODs, OMDs, opticians, Walmart, Lenscrafters, Costco, Sam's Club, Americans Best, EyeMart Express, Cohen's Optical, Doctor's Vision Centers, VSP's optical and 1,000's of others. Also your local pediatricians, family docs, PAs, NPs, urgent cares all treating the reds eyes you could be treating.
2. In addition to # 1, on-line opticals selling glasses and contact lenses are BOOMING. It's only expected to get worse. And really you can't blame people for wanting to save money.
3. The optometric industry has changed. From 1900 or so onward, we emerged from jewerly stores to examine and sell glasses. And then contact lens in the 1960's or so. All was good through the 60's and 70's and even 80's with $300 contact lens fits and a monoply on eyeglasses (except for local opticals and they were usually in cahoots with local OMDs who didn't have opticals at the time because it was "unethical" for MDs to sell products).
4. Then something bad happened--- It was a triad of destruction--- A) In the 1990's disposible contact lenses came into being. Savey salespeople realized that they could sell boxes of contacts cheaper than a doctor can (lower overhead). Then the internet got big and everyone and their brother got into selling contacts and then glasses. B) to combat this loss of income, ODs began to bargin to treat more eye diseases. C) Lowered surgical fees (and less referrals from ODs for simple red eyes) led to OMDs putting in opticals in their offices.
5. With optical income (which had always been optometry's bread and butter) drying up, we had to try to make it up with treating eye diseases. Problem is there are simply not enough eye diseases to keep 2 seperate professions busy.
6. Based on all the above, the little mom-n-pop optometry office is dying away just as other small hardware and pharmacies are dying away. With a PRIVATE practice comes freedom. With corporation controlled optical jobs comes control. They will tell the doctor when to work, where to work, how long to work, what to charge, who to see, what products to use, when to take a lunch break, when to take a bathroom break, how long the exam will be (10 minutes turnovers to get them into the optical fast).
So from boss/owner to mid level employee is quite a transition. It's like the owner of a small hardware store closing down and going to work in the plumbing department at Lowes. It's a downgrade and a bit demeaning. This is optometry's future unfortunately. The owners of the corporation will be the only ones making the big money. The OD will simply be a 'tool' to write optical Rx's.
So in conclusion: The Readers Digest Version of the above
1. Optometry had it's heyday in the 1970's and 1980's. Then all started going to hell. There is no turning back.
2. We lost the optical monopoly and with that, ~ 40% of our income.
3. There is not enough eye disease to make up for it.
4. Most current ODs are only half booked but still slugging along, working harder and smarter and still making a decent living for the time being. Doubling the number of graduates is only going to hurt everyone more (including the new grad who will be looking under rocks for a job).
5. The only people that will be making good money will be the optometry consultants that try to convince you to do low vision or vision therapy even though they've never succeded at doing it and know it is a waste of time because if it was viable, there would already be many ODs doing it (Duh!). But desperate ODs will try anything including paying $4,000 to "consultant" (who is just an OD like you) to tell you how to succeed.
I feel bad for the profession. I got in just in the nic of time. I feel fortunate I have been able to make a pretty good living. But I know I could not do it again. I could not strart a cold practice from nothing and build it up like I have done with nothing but hard work. The bank was nice to me to give me a big loan ($200,000 for startup). The OD school was nice to me for 'only' charging me $90,000 for my degree. My state was nice to me for paying back $30,000 of my loan for me working in an "underprivileged" area (even though we have 50 ODs in one small city).
All of this will likely not be possible in 2012 and beyond. It's a shame. :cry:
The Good:
1. It's inside work so you don't get hot or cold. (I've worked on a road crew before and been a roofer. Those jobs suck).
2. The general unwashed Walmart public appreciates that you're a doctor (of course they have no clue the difference between an optometrist, an obstetrician and a neurosurgeon). So appreciate that for what it's worth.
3. You will have a few more friends and you'll discover some distant relatives and 2nd grade classmates that would like your services for FREE.
4. You kids might get a little more attention from teachers in school if you list your name with the "Dr." title. (and the teacher will want a discount too).
5. You can always fall back to teaching middle school science if you cant find an optometry job (with a little additional teacher training perhaps).
6. With a license, the future will be up to you somewhat. If you hussle like a madman, you can probably succeed well. But it will take the kind of effort that set Tony Robbins apart from every other motivational speaker or Billy Mays apart from everyone else wanting to make big $$ being a t.v. pitchman. (ie. part skill, part luck, part the stars aligning correctly).
7. It is a respectable job. You get to help people see better (even the ones that don't want to see clearly).
The Bad
1. There are simply too many people in the eye care industry. As an OD, your competition will be other ODs, OMDs, opticians, Walmart, Lenscrafters, Costco, Sam's Club, Americans Best, EyeMart Express, Cohen's Optical, Doctor's Vision Centers, VSP's optical and 1,000's of others. Also your local pediatricians, family docs, PAs, NPs, urgent cares all treating the reds eyes you could be treating.
2. In addition to # 1, on-line opticals selling glasses and contact lenses are BOOMING. It's only expected to get worse. And really you can't blame people for wanting to save money.
3. The optometric industry has changed. From 1900 or so onward, we emerged from jewerly stores to examine and sell glasses. And then contact lens in the 1960's or so. All was good through the 60's and 70's and even 80's with $300 contact lens fits and a monoply on eyeglasses (except for local opticals and they were usually in cahoots with local OMDs who didn't have opticals at the time because it was "unethical" for MDs to sell products).
4. Then something bad happened--- It was a triad of destruction--- A) In the 1990's disposible contact lenses came into being. Savey salespeople realized that they could sell boxes of contacts cheaper than a doctor can (lower overhead). Then the internet got big and everyone and their brother got into selling contacts and then glasses. B) to combat this loss of income, ODs began to bargin to treat more eye diseases. C) Lowered surgical fees (and less referrals from ODs for simple red eyes) led to OMDs putting in opticals in their offices.
5. With optical income (which had always been optometry's bread and butter) drying up, we had to try to make it up with treating eye diseases. Problem is there are simply not enough eye diseases to keep 2 seperate professions busy.
6. Based on all the above, the little mom-n-pop optometry office is dying away just as other small hardware and pharmacies are dying away. With a PRIVATE practice comes freedom. With corporation controlled optical jobs comes control. They will tell the doctor when to work, where to work, how long to work, what to charge, who to see, what products to use, when to take a lunch break, when to take a bathroom break, how long the exam will be (10 minutes turnovers to get them into the optical fast).
So from boss/owner to mid level employee is quite a transition. It's like the owner of a small hardware store closing down and going to work in the plumbing department at Lowes. It's a downgrade and a bit demeaning. This is optometry's future unfortunately. The owners of the corporation will be the only ones making the big money. The OD will simply be a 'tool' to write optical Rx's.
So in conclusion: The Readers Digest Version of the above
1. Optometry had it's heyday in the 1970's and 1980's. Then all started going to hell. There is no turning back.
2. We lost the optical monopoly and with that, ~ 40% of our income.
3. There is not enough eye disease to make up for it.
4. Most current ODs are only half booked but still slugging along, working harder and smarter and still making a decent living for the time being. Doubling the number of graduates is only going to hurt everyone more (including the new grad who will be looking under rocks for a job).
5. The only people that will be making good money will be the optometry consultants that try to convince you to do low vision or vision therapy even though they've never succeded at doing it and know it is a waste of time because if it was viable, there would already be many ODs doing it (Duh!). But desperate ODs will try anything including paying $4,000 to "consultant" (who is just an OD like you) to tell you how to succeed.
I feel bad for the profession. I got in just in the nic of time. I feel fortunate I have been able to make a pretty good living. But I know I could not do it again. I could not strart a cold practice from nothing and build it up like I have done with nothing but hard work. The bank was nice to me to give me a big loan ($200,000 for startup). The OD school was nice to me for 'only' charging me $90,000 for my degree. My state was nice to me for paying back $30,000 of my loan for me working in an "underprivileged" area (even though we have 50 ODs in one small city).
All of this will likely not be possible in 2012 and beyond. It's a shame. :cry:
Last edited:
