About This Career

Diagnoses and treats visual system disorders such as binocular vision and eye movement impairments.

This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.

A person in this career:

• Provides instructions to patients or family members concerning diagnoses or treatment plans.
• Evaluates, diagnoses, or treats disorders of the visual system with an emphasis on binocular vision or abnormal eye movements.
• Examines patients with problems related to ocular motility, binocular vision, amblyopia, or strabismus.
• Performs diagnostic tests or measurements, such as motor testing, visual acuity testing, lensometry, retinoscopy, and color vision testing.
• Provides nonsurgical interventions, including corrective lenses, patches, drops, fusion exercises, or stereograms, to treat conditions such as strabismus, heterophoria, and convergence insufficiency.
• Develops nonsurgical treatment plans for patients with conditions such as strabismus, nystagmus, and other visual disorders.
• Interprets clinical or diagnostic test results.
• Develops or uses special test and communication techniques to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of children or patients with disabilities.
• Provides training related to clinical methods or orthoptics to students, resident physicians, or other health professionals.
• Refers patients to ophthalmic surgeons or other physicians.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would sit most of the time. There's some walking and standing. You may have to lift and carry things like books, papers or tools weighing 10 lbs. or less.
• Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
• Seeing clearly at a distance
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Regular working hours and limited travel