August 4, 2021
The American Optometric Association’s (AOA) Board updated the definition of “doctor of optometry” to reflect the primary healthcare role doctors of optometry play and the important eye health and vision care they deliver to Americans, according to AOA Chief Communications Officer Deirdre Middleton.
Here is the updated description of Doctor of Optometry that has been posted on AOA.org and shared through AOA’s communications channels:
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Doctors of optometry (ODs/optometrists), America’s primary eye healthcare providers, are the front-line of eye and vision care. Doctors of optometry are essential healthcare providers and are recognized as physicians under Medicare. They examine, diagnose, treat and manage diseases and disorders of the eye. In addition to providing eye and vision care, they play a major role in an individual’s overall health and well-being by detecting systemic diseases, and diagnosing, treating and managing ocular manifestations of those diseases, and providing vaccinations.
Doctors of optometry:
- Prescribe medications, low vision rehabilitation, vision therapy, spectacle lenses, contact lenses and perform certain surgical procedures.
- Counsel patients regarding surgical and non-surgical options that meet their visual needs related to their occupations, avocations and lifestyle.
- Complete pre-professional undergraduate education in a college or university and four years of professional education at a college of optometry, leading to the doctor of optometry (OD) degree. Many doctors of optometry complete an additional residency in a specific area of practice.
