Eye is one of the most fascinating sensory organs of the human body. It can be easily compared to a camera as it is able to focus on objects at different distances, regardless of whether the object is stationary or moving. In fact, eye is superior to a man-made camera because the focusing seems seamless with no artifacts of motion blur or distortion that is encountered with a camera. Because the eye is both a biological organ and also an optical system, there are several career options in eye care. These are described below.

Diploma programs in allied eye health: 2 or 2-3 years

If the eye is considered as an optical unit, then understanding how the eye functions would require knowledge in Math & Physics, beyond knowing the Biology. Such a field that specializes in this is Optometry. Optometrists are primary eye care professionals who can assess both the physiological health of the eye and the optical sharpness of the eye. They can prescribe spectacles, contact lenses and certain optical devices such as magnifiers that can help a person with vision impairment to see better. Beyond this, Optometrists can also specialize in treating conditions of the eye that has focusing problems and teaming up problems. Since we have two eyes, they need to team up together to function in harmony. Other specialty training in Optometry revolves around working with patients who have special needs such as Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome, patients with traumatic brain injury etc. Here the optometrists assess vision in these patients and specifically work with patients to fulfill their functional vision requirement. Functional vision means how we can use our eyes and vision to carry out our daily tasks (e.g. picking  a cup of water). We see with our eye and brain and that’s what constitutes “vision”. Optometry is a four-year degree program.

There are other Eye Care professions that specifically focus on prescribing spectacles alone and/or performing diagnostic techniques in an eye hospital. These are given as Diplopma programs in allied eye health, that typically has duration of 2-3 years. These professionals also have a working knowledge of the biology of the eye and of the optics of the eye. They also get skilled with using instruments that can make measurements of the eye parameters. Such parameters are required to plan say, a cataract surgery and decide the power of the intra-ocular lens that needs to put in the patient’s eye.

The profession that specializes in doing surgery and in medical management for eye conditions is Ophthalmology. An Ophthalmologist is a medical doctor who after completing their MBBS degree chooses to specialize in eye diseases. In India only the Ophthalmologist is licensed to prescribe medicines and eye drops to the patient. Within the Ophthalmology stream as well, there are several super-specialty streams that specializes for different conditions such as retinal diseases or pediatric eye care etc. An Ophthalmologist can also prescribe spectacles. The art of dispensing the spectacles with a perfect fitting of the frame on the face is taken care by an Optician. Since optics is involved here, this professional also needs to have a good knowledge in Math and Optics.