hello. i would like to be an optometrist but there's some complications...?!


Question: Hello. i would like to be an optometrist but there's some complications...?
currently, i am 15 years of age. i get good grades in maths and sciences, along with the other required courses such as english, religion, etc.
so the mark aspect isn't an issue.

my issue is what an eye doctor performs.
you see, i fell in love with what an eye doctor's goal and how nice they are. after going to one myself, i realized how great of a job this would be!
but then after some research, i found out about how they can treat diseases in the eye with surgery and remove splinters, etc, aka foreign bodies in the eye.
i'm a weak person, and by that i mean, i can't handle blood/things of that manner.

i'd love to get paid that high amount of money to just check eyes, and prescribe/sell glasses or contacts, but we all know that's the case.

i really need someone who knows a lot about this profession who can guide be through it... are there courses for me to take to better myself and to become less worried?

p.s i also know that there are 2 different eye doctors, an optometrist, and an opthamologist(eye surgeon) but i read somewhere that optometrists do perform minor surgeries in canada.

thank you, and hopefully someone helps!

Answers:

I am an optometry student just finishing my third year of schooling. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.

Overall, optometrists deal very, very little with blood. Same with ophthalmologists. At the most, you may see a subconjunctival hemorrhage or a hyphema, but that's just not much blood at all.

Optometrists will remove minor foreign bodies. Anything serious or vision-threatening or something that has penetrated the eye completely will go to the ophthalmologist.

I also don't do well with blood or even needles for that matter. I WILL pass out! However, I am fine when I am the "doctor" doing the procedure. One of the requirements for National Board testing is to draw an IV (useful for fluoresceine angiograms). For boards, you actually do it on a fake arm, but you do have to learn the procedure for real on each other in a lab. I nearly fainted when I had a classmate do it on me (not due to the classmate ... he did an amazing excellent job) but just due to the mental issue I have with getting stuck that goes back to a back blood donation experience. However, when it was my turn to draw the IV, I was totally and 100% fine and focused! No problem.

So for me, it hasn't been an issue because I am fine when I'm the one doing the procedure. You may or may not be the same way.

If you have any more questions, like I said, feel free to shoot me an email and I can help you out however I can.

I am an optometry intern.




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