Want some take on your guys opinion. Got a private practice job offering with base salary of 145k. 1099 employee which pretty much means no benefits but will cover malpractice, CE, licensing, and match 401k. No PTO and 6 sick days. About 10minutes drive from my location.

If you take on 300,000 dollars in debt at 7% interest and want to pay it off in 10 years, you have to make ~3500 in monthly payments. An entry level position affords you ~168,000 today. After taxes, monthly take home is about 10,000. 10k-3.5k=6.5k or 78,000 a year. If rent is 2,000 then you have 54,000. Let’s throw on a 1,000 car payment. 42,000. Really nice food + eating out. 34,000. A vacation? A really really nice vacation? 24,000. I have 24,000 dollars I don’t know what to do with. Invest? Use the dividends to help pay off my debt faster? Get it done in 9 years instead? What am I missing here? What’s so bad about the debt? I’m seriously wondering, I’m a college student who’s never had to worry about bills.

I have 2 positions being offered: the first as an ophthalmologist assistant for a practice I’ve never worked at, that will pay for further education & licensing; the other, retaking an optician role for a practice I worked at previously, who told me at that time they would assist with my becoming licensed & never followed through (I worked there for 4 years). Curious if anyone has experience in both roles/if one is in any way more beneficial than the other (financially, career-wise, benefits of certifications for each job, etc)

Im about to acquire an optical practice in Australia. The practice is over 25 years old and the 70 year old optometrist is ready to retire

Yes, I have done my due diligence to the best of my ability. Accountant and business coach say it looks good and I’m getting a fair deal.

I visited the location today and spied on the front doors as I had lunch. Traffic was pretty non existent. Admittedly I was only there for 40 minutes, but it had got me worried.

Now I am worried. What if this goes wrong? What if no one comes in?

I’m currently trying to incorporate ortho for patients. I only got 2 patients doing it now. My biggest concern is that I have patients developing imprints from where the lenses sit on their eyes. If these patients were to completely stop doing ortho k would those imprints go away? Would it turn into scarring ? I’ve seen patients with irregular corneas that use hard lenses lifelong and develop these imprint / scarring and they never go away, but they have to use these lenses to see . Just wanted to hear y’all’s thought.

I'm absolutely miserable in this career. What other careers do you recommend someone with our education and background go into?

I'm about $250,000 in debt and hope to get out ASAP. I can't justify our debt to income ratio, and I certainly can't justify seeing +25 patients a day any longer.

EDIT: The responses are concerning due to the fact that if anyone voices criticism of our field (cost/salary ratio, amount of schooling for our profession, AI progression, insurance cuts, etc.,) or shows any disinterest, they immediately get downvoted. The message is QUITE clear, praise your job or stay quiet!

Looking for opinions, examples, & pros/cons of best home devices that make tasks manageable for visually impaired people. For example, setting air fryers, coffee pots, etc. (Digital screens & small lettering are super hard to read.) Looking into Google Home, Alexa, smart plugs, etc. TIA.

Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on working at Kaiser?

Hello, I’m a 4th year optometry student and looking into potential job opportunities would anyone have any insight into working for National Vision? Hate it or love it? I’ll be in the NY region.

Hello,

I am currently working corporate and was looking at potential opportunities in the area and came across MED. If you work for the company how do you like it?

Hi! I recently went to a CE conference and attended a lecture on normal tension glaucoma. It was a good reminder of ddx with NTG (I'm early in my career, have been practicing for 2 years now), but the lecturer said something that caught my interest. He stated that he believes treating when glaucoma isn't actually present is almost on par w/ not treating glaucoma. He did not mean like for instance missing compressive neuropathy, but as a general statement. He also stated he did not treat NTG unless he saw progression citing the CNTGS (without exactly explaining what constitutes progression for him), but at that point I feel like I would have missed out on years of not treating that could have POSSIBLY slowed things down? Just wondering if there is any additional input. I'm in a single doctor practice so I don't get many opportunities to talk with other docs so any education you have to offer is so welcomed!

4th year student on rotations and saw this in periphery. 27M NP, first routine eye exam, no visual complaints

Looks like a giant window defect/ RPE atrophy? Weird presentation since it’s in the periphery.

I have a couple state licenses that I don't use and I'm about 80% sure I won't return to those states unless something happens with my family.

I was debating on making them inactive instead of paying the fees every year or every 2 years to maintain them, but I'm not sure if that's a smart idea. It seems like each state does things differently and that some might not let you go inactive if I'm reading things correctly. I was wondering if anyone is able to share their experience with this? Was it easier for you to just switch them to inactive status?

I’m considering (re)taking a full-time position as an optician (currently unlicensed/hoping to attain license in the near future) at an office I worked at previously (~4 years). The reason I ultimately left is because my then manager & HR coordinator seemed uninterested in giving me any information about going for my license, despite the fact that they claimed they would assist with this upon hire & despite my having asked several times during my last year about what I needed to do to obtain it. The disinterest had nothing to do with my job performance; I did well, was invested in my role & now they are very interested in rehiring me, even 3-4 years later. I’m just curious about what typical hourly rates are currently for unlicensed/apprentice opticians & for licensed (particularly in Virginia)- I’m being offered $15.50/hr & I feel like this might be a bit skimpy considering I have experience, although unlicensed, & the opportunity to take a full-time medical assistant position at a specialized eye care office which starts between $16-$18/hr AND guarantees they will invest in my becoming licensed (that is as a medical assistant, not optician; I suppose I feel like it’s sort of a waste of my previous experience in optical to not try to get my optician’s license before moving onto something else.)

Currently planning on moving back to my home city to join my dad’s small private practice. It has always been single doc 2-4 staff members since he started it. He won’t have full time work for me to begin even with him giving up a day or two right away so he can slow down and focus on the business side more to expand.

I’m currently in a corporate setting, with the chance of keeping some sort of virtual care position when I move or working part time in their local office depending on demand. At what point is it best to go all in on the private practice (which is my endgame) verse trying to keep part time work while I’m not full time in my dad’s practice?

a college near me offers a certificate program for Optics Technology, is this something that would be beneficial to get if i wanted to get a job as an optician? or are they not related? would it be useless?

I am an optometrist. I shut down my practice in November 2023 because of cash flow issues. It was located in a rural community. I took a sabbatical, and now, one year later, I want to continue practicing. I can't afford to open a new practice right now, so I'm looking for opportunities. Getting an outright job is on the table, but I would like to provide more value. Here is my idea. To introduce home based optometry to practices that don't have the service. I would go to see the patients who are sick, old or just unable to come to their clinic for reviews. My offer is to do that on 20% percentage of revenue generated for the first month and a salary/consultancy fee thereafter. What do you think about it and how would you do it differently to add more value?

Hi,

I am a new optometrist and will be cold starting in the GTA soon. I am looking for more information about the market. Hoping to open in downtown Toronto in 2025.

1. How long have you had your practice for?  

2. Where is your practice located? GTA vs Downtown vs Other

3. What did you spend on marketing in the first year?

4. Where did you market and which was the most successful? 

5. How many patients did you see in the first 6 months? 

6. How many years did it take to break even? 

7. Do you have any tips or insights for a new optometrist starting a practice from scratch?

Thank yo for your help!

I've having this discussion lately. I'm always told to use the negative cylinder because of the refractometer which gives you always the negative cylinder and because it's more comfortable for the fabrication and the paciente. Can anyone confirm this? also if you can give me sources I'll be thankful.

I work for America’s Best and I became op tech certified in April. I enjoy what I do and I’m constantly learning new things. However, I feel as if I’m not learning as much as I could. The pay is also not livable for me and it feels like they’re doing everything they can to ensure no one gets raises. I enjoy the doctor that I’m with as well, however, doc will be out for about 2 months so I will be back to selling glasses for outside Rxs. I’m feeling very much stuck at this moment because I’m not just a tech but I’m also a sales person and a receptionist and I just want the opportunity to grow in the field that I genuinely love which is teaching. If you were talking to your younger self, what advice would you give them?

Hello, I am a recent graduate with nearly two years of experience in corporate optometry. I recently received an offer to work as a mobile optometrist, visiting nursing homes in my area to conduct complete eye exams.

I’ve had no significant issues with corporate due to decent pay, and they have been helping with loan payback. However, I am becoming increasingly bored with the setting, cookie-cutter exams, and working mandatory weekends & holidays.

The current pay at the corporate gig is 150 base with a possible bonus of 30 K. Pay last year totalled 174K

The mobile optometry position would pay 210-240 K with “opportunities in growth.” I'm not sure what growth opportunities there would be. They pay for mileage. Monday through Friday only; 8-hour days. I plan on following up with the employer soon to ask for a detailed picture of a regular day, yearly schedule, and additional questions.

Coming out of school, I emphasized planning to work in low vision and slowly building from there. I have also never had a problem working with a geriatric client base.

Has anyone on this sub had experience working as a sole optometrist providing mobile nursing home care daily or part-time? What are the pros and cons? I’m trying to get a feel for whether I should even bother.

I appreciate your help with this—thank you so much in advance!

What are the current options avaliable in the US market for myopia control spectacle lenses? I was seeing good data on the Stellest from Essilor but my lab said it was not available in the US.

Hi everyone! I'm currently in my second year of university on the pre-optometry track, and I have an assignment that involves interviewing a healthcare professional about ethical issues they encounter in their field. While I understand that many healthcare professionals face challenges like maintaining patient confidentiality and professionalism, I'm curious about ethical dilemmas that are unique to the field of eye care.

Are there specific ethical issues in optometry that don't commonly arise in other healthcare fields?

Thank you in advance for the help!

Any advice from UK optometrists greatly appreciated.

I took a 4.5yr break from optics to pursue a career change in medical technology, and now I am wanting to get back into optics.

But Im so worried and nervous that I havent practiced for 4.5yrs now.

Im no longer a GOC/AOP member so obviously need to re-register with them.

Otherwise any advice??

I am astounded at the number of patients that report using Marijuana for anxiety and depression. Some days, it close to half the patients.
In NH, medicinal use only.

I’ve never seen this before, but I recently started working at a new clinic in a rural area. We had a child’s mom call and say that her old glasses had an ADD and they’d like to have her prescription updated with that.

We looked back at the chart and it looks like we did measure her old glasses as having a -2.00 ADD. I’ve never seen a negative ADD, and neither has the doctor I’m working with. Is this a tx for accommodative insufficiency? Seems bizarre.

I was wondering if anyone knew of websites that you could use to look up job opportunities for optometrists seeking a non-profit organization?

Hey guys, i had a quick question sometimes doing BIO i lose stereo at times, like nothing in my set changes but poof stereo says bye. Is there possibly something im doing in correctly?