If the prospect of examining, diagnosing, treating and managing diseases and disorders of the body’s most valuable organs tickles your fancy, then consider pursuing a career in optometry. This field involves learning about the eye’s biochemistry, structure, and optics so that when patients are sick, you as the optometrist conducts eye examinations to detect and treat vision problems and diseases in order to provide consequent care and treatment that will help in the maintenance and restoration of a person’s optical health.

Studying an optometry course will allow you to be part of a profession whose sole role is to protect and preserve one of the most precious senses — sight and yes, you can make a lucrative living while at it, why? Check out these statistics:

1. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.3 billion people today live with some form of distance or near vision impairment. Specifically, 826 million people have near vision issues, 188.5 million suffer from distance vision impairment, 217 million are reported to have moderate to severe vision impairment, while 36 million people are blind.
2. While 80% of global vision impairment is considered avoidable, it’s expected that population growth, as well as ageing, will increase the risk that more people acquire vision problems
3. Among the leading causes of vision, issues include, uncorrected refractive errors, cataract, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, corneal opacity, and trachoma
4. There are several effective interventions available to prevent and treat eye diseases and if you can specialize in one or all of them, you can easily become the most sort-after optometrist

Comprehensive eye care aims to address a full spectrum of eye diseases not only prevention and treatment services, but also vision rehabilitation in order to ensure that everyone has access to optical care services that meet their needs at every stage of life. If this sounds like a career path you can follow wholeheartedly, starting off on the right foot is crucial and to pursue a course in Optometry, you will need to present the necessary academic achievements as determined by the respective eye-see universities.

A diploma in Optometry is usually 3 years long while the duration for a degree in Optometry takes 4 years. That said, here is a list of some of the best universities, where aspiring optometrists can attend in the U.S:

• The University Eye Center of California – Berkeley offers on-campus training clinics in geriatrics, binocular vision, and primary eye care
• The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Optometry offers a foundation in vision science with professional training in clinical optometry
• The Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University in Big Rapids offers basic science topics in anatomy and pathology, including optometry-focused subjects like contact lenses and binocular dysfunction
• Indiana University in Bloomington
• Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK
• Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL
• University of Missouri, St Louis

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