A type of healthcare service, Optometry is about the assessment of vision. An optometrist is a healthcare professional who practices optometry and fits lenses in order to enhance vision and diagnose as well as cure a wide variety of ocular disorders. Find out why you can benefit from a career in Optometry, and whether it is for you.
Very high demand
Optometrists are in extremely high demand, and this demand is anticipated to grow more in the years to come. This can be the best profession for you if you wish to provide others with relief from suffering. The world has millions of people who are suffering from some kind of ocular defect. Every third blind individual, according to latest statistics, is from India alone. If you have a disposition to be of service to others, you would love the job of an optometrist.
Many employment prospects
Once you complete a program on optometry, you can pass out and find different career opportunities waiting for you. You can work with the eye departments of hospitals, ophthalmic lens industry, contact lens industry, in the clinics of eye doctors or in the showrooms of opticians. You may even work with any multinational company that deals with glasses, contacts or other eye care products. You may even start your own independent eye clinic, lens manufacturing unit, optical shop etc. Or you may even take up teaching optometry as a career. If you want a job quickly, which also alleviates the sufferings of other people, you would love optometry.
You may even take up higher education or even try researching in the domain of optometry. As an optometrist, you can work as an occupational health expert and take care of the vision of industrial workers.
High salary
Do you also want to bag a high-salary job? One of the top 10 professions in the world in terms of income generation, Optometry can help you earn big money. The income of an optometrist is decided by a number of factors, such as patient population, services rendered, location of practice, number of hours worked, fee schedules, amount of coverage by medical programs etc. An optometrist’s starting salary in a government organization is 18k INR or more, along with other allowances. While optometrists who are salaried initially make more income than those who set up a private practice, the latter generally earn more when established.
If you have the qualities of persistence, dedication, self-discipline, coordination, good vision and mechanical aptitude, you can shine in this profession.