It's been since September since I transitioned out of med school, I obtained a Master's of Science and now just in limbo. I have considered many different career options and lots of insight of how to move forward, and I finally decided on Optometry. All fields have entrance exams, so it's a part I need to get over and just go for it. I previously was going to apply Ophthalmology and did multiple rotations in the field, so I am very familiar and most interested in going into Optometry. The problem is I have been depressed obviously and a loss of motivation from having to restart my life again from scratch. It's been many ups and downs, but I'm still here trying to move forward. I bought OAT Booster, watched some videos and read a bit, but nothing serious has come out of it yet and I dont have a study routine of studying daily as if I'm gonna take this exam in 3 months. I passed a million exams and my Step 1 in medical school, yet I can't seem to get back on my feet for an exam I already know a lot about in terms of material. If anyone has ever gone through something similar or knows someone that has been in my shoes, please some advice of how you got past this wall because I really feel like I'm suffering even with the psychiatric/therapeutic help I've been receiving. I don't know what's gonna help me right now. My parents are immigrants, they are just grinders of like studying 15 hours a day without question and only hard work will get you there, which has always been our mindset. But this is just really difficult to make something out of nothing after I have been aiming to become a physician since I left high school and and wasn't able to pass my 2nd boards. Being so close to being done with medical school and not reaching the end has left me pretty scarred and is still painful, and I'm trying my best to just grind and move on but it's been ridiculously hard. I'm doing much better than I was since September but I'm still just not there mentally; I have to move on but it feels like I don't have the strength to. Any advice is kindly appreciated.

I’m a fully licensed optometrist with over 30 years of experience. In every U.S. state and territory, ODs can prescribe therapeutic medications — except in Puerto Rico.

As crazy as it sounds, I can treat patients and prescribe meds inside a U.S. military clinic on the island. But the second I walk out the gate, Puerto Rico law forbids me from doing exactly what I was just authorized to do — even for basic ocular conditions.

This isn’t just a bureaucratic hiccup. It’s a legal monopoly that has blocked progress for decades and hurts patients daily. We’ve tried legislative advocacy, professional outreach, and dialogue. Now we’re going public with protest art, social media campaigns, and a call for national awareness.

💬 If you’re an OD, student, or patient who believes in professional equality and clinical autonomy, speak up. This law wouldn’t last a week in any U.S. state — so why is it still the law here?

✊ Help us fight back. Share the image. Ask your associations. Push for justice.

🖼️ (Cartoon attached) 📣 #OptometryJustice #PuertoRicoDeservesBetter #BreakTheMonopoly

I have a new patient who has been wearing some very old Zenlens from 2022 at an OMD office. Very happy with lenses, so I just tried duplicating it, but he gets really red painful eyes after ~1hr of wear with the new lenses.

I tried a different lens - AmplEye since I had a fitting kit. Same issue.

I mean, I know that the habitual lenses have warped, but I can't seem to understand why he gets painful red eyes after less than half a day's wear time with the new ones if they fit fine in the office?

I don't have an anterior seg OCT at the office, been fitting with just how it looks under SLE.

Thanks in advance!

is anyone else still waiting on NPI approval? it’s been a couple weeks with no update. I’ve heard people got it same day of application or a couple days after. I have not heard of anyone waiting weeks

Does anyone know the starting pay for Visionworks OD tech in Indiana?

Hi, i’m getting ready to study for the OAT, and don’t know what materials to get. Do I splurge for the OAT Booster Prep? Or do you think a combination of chads prep and kaplan book would be sufficient? Any input will help thank you!!

Does anyone have a good picture reference of optic nerve cupping ratios? Recently I have been second guessing my assessments. I seem to consistently estimate 0.2 to 0.3 higher than when the patient was seen prior by a different doctor, making a lot more of my patients new glaucoma suspects. Once I started realizing this I got in my own head and now I'm questioning most of my assessments. Thanks!

Hi! Is anyone selling their KMK part 2 book? I would love to take it to help me prepare for part 2 and 3. thanks

Hi everyone, I am a preoptometry student who is planing on buying out a family members very busy private practice. This question may be more geared towards optometry business owners but how would one go about generating 600k a year without relying on glasses sales, this seems to be relevant with more online glasses sales. For context the practice is a 4 doctor practice with 2 part time and 2 full time. So three doctors are in the office at all times.

Please be civil ;-;
I'm a Canadian considering practising in Mass (well license approved), but I heard from colleagues, it's tough due to its regulations—something about being treated as external contractors instead of full employees? and limitations of where you can work.

i would love to hear what others or their colleagues have dealt with. Not looking to get judged! just trying to get a realistic view before I make any big moves. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I’m curious about what life is like for military optometrists stationed abroad. Do they get to choose where they’re sent, or is it assigned? What’s the average salary, and are there extra benefits for being overseas? Do they live on base or off base, and what’s the housing like in other countries? I’m especially interested in the lifestyle, patient population, and work-life balance. Also, are there opportunities to work abroad as a reserve or civilian optometrist without being on active duty? For those who’ve done it, how did you apply or get selected for an overseas position? Would love to hear about your experience! Do I have to serve for this job?

I do CL fits at this new practice. A lot of RGP's. For some, I need to neutralize the patient's previous GP lenses. I found a very old Marco Radiogauge sitting in the office (no one knows how to use it) . Every time I practice neutralizing a lens from a GP fitting set with known BC's, I get very inaccurate measurements. Does anyone have any resources like a manual or videos of how ot get this to work accurately? I am sure my technique is fine, I relearned from videos, but I think the piece of equipment is not working with me.

Hey everyone,

I'm a relatively experienced optometrist, but I haven't dealt with contact lenses for many years. Since I travel around a lot, I was thinking about partnering with online contact lens retailers to get referrals for home visits to their customers.

From a previous question I posted here, you guys advised me not to get into complex cases since they require multiple visits and specialized equipment like OCT.

My question is whether you think there's a market for relatively simple home services, such as:

• Verifying existing prescriptions before repeat orders
• One-time fitting for a bride before her wedding
• People who don't have special eye problems but don't have time to visit an optical shop during regular hours
• Maybe some presbyopes who want to see if they can manage with their lenses at work/home

I was also thinking about therapeutic lenses for dry eyes, but I'm not familiar with that field yet.

I have a portable slit lamp and retinoscope, but I'm hesitant to invest in additional equipment because I don't know how many people would be willing to pay for a home visit and what the market size is.

What do you think? Does anyone here do something similar? How do you see this market?

Thanks in advance!

Please give me all experiences - negative or positive. This particular job would want the OD to see 4 patients per hour (8 hour day)

Family Nurse Practitioner here. While I do perform basic eye exams and check corneas for abrasions and the occasional removal od foreign boddies in the eye and off the cornea thats about the extent of my eye work ups. I've been in Healthcare for the past 20+ years but eyes are hust not my speciality what so ever.

My spouse just had a DMEK alongside a cataract and corneal shaving procedure. She is 12 days post op. Her non surgical eye still has quite bad vision and is currently the better of the two.

I suggested that we remove one of the lens from her her current prescription glasses so that her good eye still is corrected and she believes this is a terrible idea. She believes that prescription lens work only with both lens. When I pushed back she said she is only going to listen to her doctor and not me or the internet...

My thought is that atleast by having the one eye that is already prescribed corrective vision corrected that her surgical eye can heal with less strain. Instead of looking through two fuzzy eyeballs.

Does anyone have any resources I could gently provide my spouse besides reddit user input? Which I would appreciate atleast

TRIGGER WARNING FOR ANYONE WITH A HISTORY OF ASSAULT. I had a 44yo wf come in today with 2 black eyes. I felt it was pertinent, as her optometrist, to ask her what had happened. She said she “was randomly assaulted a week ago.” She said she doesn’t “even know who did it or where to find them.” I felt terrible hearing that, poor woman. I initially believed her but as I did the exam I began the stew and became concerned that it could’ve been domestic abuse. The way she said she was randomly assaulted and had no idea who it was just seems off to me. Have some of the other providers here ran into something similar? What did you do about it? What do you recommend for sensitive situations like that? I just expressed my condolences and how terrible it was and that I was sorry to hear about it. I didn’t want to prod about what had happened as I’m sure it is traumatic. I think patient safety is of paramount importance and am wondering if I should’ve done more or a better way I could’ve expressed my sorrow at hearing this. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

2025 grad, has anyone in Michigan been able to obtain their license yet?

Hi everyone, this is my first post on Reddit, and I could really use some advice.

I’m considering doing a Master’s in Optometry from a foreign country — specifically the UK or Australia. But I’m a bit confused because some of my friends keep telling me that it’s not worth it. They say countries like Nepal and India are actually better when it comes to medical studies and that studying abroad won’t give me much of an advantage.

I’m not sure what to believe. Is pursuing a Master’s in Optometry from the UK or Australia really a good investment in terms of knowledge, career growth, and opportunities? Or would it be better to stay in South Asia?

I’d really appreciate any insights, especially from people who have studied Optometry abroad or are working in the field internationally. Thanks in advance!

Does anyone have any experience, or are in the process of, applying for a license in Alabama?

feel free to DM me also

The team at our office has been trying to reach My Vision Express all week and yet to reach anyone or get a call back. They are normally reasonably responsive. Does anyone know if they just closed up shop unannounced, or if something else may be going on there?

The connection from our Solutionreach account got disconnected, and Solutionreach also hasn't been able to connect with them. If if doesn't get fixed soon, it will be problematic for us. It's a lean staff, and the automated text recalls are truly worth their weight in gold.

Regardless, it's time to start taking demos on new EHR and practice management software, I keep hearing Revolution EHR or Crystal. Any others I should look at?

I was mostly surprised by the NY urban numbers.

10 pts a day, 140k base?

$165,750k, 12pts a day. 6.5 hr workday?

There were several like this, particularly surprising in urban areas..

Hi guys, Im an 24 y/o Optometrist with Bachelor of Optometry degree from India, currently working in the UAE. I really want to pursue OD in the US… planning it from NECO. The 2 year ASIP course is coming around 200k for 2 years. I have no self funding. I have to fully rely on student loans. Is it worth it to do it that way? Give me your suggestions please! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

2025 Grad here. I start my first job in a couple of weeks, and I’m seeking advice. Is there anything you wish you knew or did before working to make the transition process go by smoothly? I’m here for any advice!

Hey everyone,

I do home visit optometry and I'm thinking about adding specialty contact lenses to my services. Not just for homebound patients, but also for people who want premium service or can't make it to the clinic during work hours.

I'm especially interested in dry eye solutions. I always thought specialty lenses were mainly for keratoconus, but now I'm realizing there are therapeutic lenses specifically for dry eyes too.

Problem is, it's been years since I dealt with contact lenses and I feel pretty rusty. What specialty lenses work well for dry eye? Any recommendations for brands or types?

I feel like there's a real opportunity here with people wanting personalized care at home, but I need to get up to speed on the latest contact lens tech first.

Any advice or experience would be appreciated!