Any optometrists here or anyone know a practicing optometrist? How much do you make per year?

[kuy 0]

Thought this would be helpful for aspiring and current students! I'm currently exploring career options and have come across a huge range of numbers. Could anyone here comment on their experience as an optometrist or of someone they know?

 

Where do you practice?

 

What does your average work week look like in terms of the hours you work?

 

How many years of experience do you have and how has your salary changed over the years?

[cotecc 67]

Have you seen how much they charge for that eye exam?!%!

[keipop 535]

19 hours ago, cotecc said:

Have you seen how much they charge for that eye exam?!%!

Eye exams don’t pay all that much (from what I’ve seen in optom school) but they’re enough to get you by (and still have a respectable salary), if you wanna be rich (MD-level or more) you gotta hit big with your own business (glasses sales really help) or take shortcuts with your eye exams (and possibly compromising your eye care quality...

[cotecc 67]

55 minutes ago, keipop said:

Eye exams don’t pay all that much (from what I’ve seen during my time in optometry) but they’re enough to get you by (and still have a respectable salary), if you wanna be rich (MD-level or more) you gotta hit big with your own business (glasses sales really help) or take shortcuts with your eye exams (and possibly compromising your eye care quality...

4 exam per hour x85$ each=340$/h minus overhead(some owners do not charge overhead because eye exams brings clients to  buy glasses). As said by Keipop, selling glasses is what makes $$$$, the owners use optos to bring people in. 

[keipop 535]

41 minutes ago, cotecc said:

4 exam per hour x85$ each=340$/h minus overhead(some owners do not charge overhead because eye exams brings clients to  buy glasses). As said by Keipop, selling glasses is what makes $$$$, the owners use optos to bring people in. 

sorry to burst your bubble but a complete eye exam shouldn’t take nowhere near 15 minutes haha, but 15 minutes is acceptable for an eye emergency tho! a half-decent eye exam should take around 30-45 minutes at leaaaaaast, and a complete eye exam should take around 60-75 minutes (and that’s why i avoid commercial optometrists like the plague ever since starting optometry school lmaoo). But, there’s also the possibility of having complicated patients or seemingly normal patients who happen to have risk factors for really nasty problems down the line (ex: high myopia (huge risk factor for retinal detachment), glaucoma risk factors, etc.) where you need to do more procedures such as pupil dilation/taking intraocular pressure/verifying whether there is glaucoma/etc. to diagnose and see if further action is necessary, which takes a lot of time in addition to said 30 minutes for your eye exam (and the billing for said extra procedures is frankly not enough for the extra time you spent doing them actually)

and idk about overhead tho, i’ve never heard of owners not taking overhead because of ODs being able to bring in clients, but that could just be because of my (limited) experience! do you personally know whether such a case exists?

take-home message: if you wanna be rich, don’t do opto; but if you wanna be comfortable and have a comfortable salary, hell to the yeah go for it!

(disclaimer: i’m talking about the situation in Quebec, not sure about other provinces!) and also sorry in advance for the text wall lmaooo

[cotecc 67]

8 hours ago, keipop said:

sorry to burst your bubble but a complete eye exam shouldn’t take nowhere near 15 minutes haha, but 15 minutes is acceptable for an eye emergency tho! a half-decent eye exam should take around 30-45 minutes at leaaaaaast, and a complete eye exam should take around 60-75 minutes (and that’s why i avoid commercial optometrists like the plague ever since starting optometry school lmaoo). But, there’s also the possibility of having complicated patients or seemingly normal patients who happen to have risk factors for really nasty problems down the line (ex: high myopia (huge risk factor for retinal detachment), glaucoma risk factors, etc.) where you need to do more procedures such as pupil dilation/taking intraocular pressure/verifying whether there is glaucoma/etc. to diagnose and see if further action is necessary, which takes a lot of time in addition to said 30 minutes for your eye exam (and the billing for said extra procedures is frankly not enough for the extra time you spent doing them actually)

and idk about overhead tho, i’ve never heard of owners not taking overhead because of ODs being able to bring in clients, but that could just be because of my (limited) experience! do you personally know whether such a case exists?

take-home message: if you wanna be rich, don’t do opto; but if you wanna be comfortable and have a comfortable salary, hell to the yeah go for it!

(disclaimer: i’m talking about the situation in Quebec, not sure about other provinces!) and also sorry in advance for the text wall lmaooo

some big box don't eg. The chain that starts with C I heard. That's what I heard from friends ranting about optos

Mais serieusement, c'est où que je vais pour avoir un examen de 30-45 minutes? et ca doit couter vraiment cher non?

[keipop 535]

26 minutes ago, cotecc said:

some big box don't eg. The chain that starts with C I heard. That's what I heard from friends ranting about optos

Mais serieusement, c'est où que je vais pour avoir un examen de 30-45 minutes? et ca doit couter vraiment cher non?

d’où mon “and that’s why i avoid commercial optometrists like the plague ever since starting optometry school lmaoo” haha (and also another chain that starts with N, I have nothing but bad experiences with them also (mauvaise prescription visites après visites, pas d’examen du fond d’oeil tandis que je suis fort myope, straight up refuser de prendre des rendez-vous pour des gens dans ma famille couverts par la RAMQ, and the list goes on)) so j’me suis dit si j’allais finir ma vie en opto jamais j’allais travailler dans quelque chose d’aussi commerciale que ça for my own sanity hahah

si tu es à Montréal je te recommande la clinique de l’école d’optométrie même, j’ai eu de très bonnes expériences avec eux, les étudiants sont vraiment compétents et à la fin il y a un prof-clinicien qui vérifie le tout! Sinon je te recommande de t’orienter vers des pratiques plus indépendantes (ou des bannières moins connues ou qui ont moins l’air “commercial”), vu que généralement moins ça a l’air axé sur l’aspect commercial, plus la qualité de soins est haute (moins de pression de faire de l’argent). Pour ce qui est cher ou pas cher, je pense pas qu’il y ait une très grande différence à travers les cliniques d’opto alors inquiète toi pas pour ça!

[JohnGrisham 1,700]

10 hours ago, keipop said:

sorry to burst your bubble but a complete eye exam shouldn’t take nowhere near 15 minutes haha, but 15 minutes is acceptable for an eye emergency tho! a half-decent eye exam should take around 30-45 minutes at leaaaaaast, and a complete eye exam should take around 60-75 minutes (and that’s why i avoid commercial optometrists like the plague ever since starting optometry school lmaoo). But, there’s also the possibility of having complicated patients or seemingly normal patients who happen to have risk factors for really nasty problems down the line (ex: high myopia (huge risk factor for retinal detachment), glaucoma risk factors, etc.) where you need to do more procedures such as pupil dilation/taking intraocular pressure/verifying whether there is glaucoma/etc. to diagnose and see if further action is necessary, which takes a lot of time in addition to said 30 minutes for your eye exam (and the billing for said extra procedures is frankly not enough for the extra time you spent doing them actually)

and idk about overhead tho, i’ve never heard of owners not taking overhead because of ODs being able to bring in clients, but that could just be because of my (limited) experience! do you personally know whether such a case exists?

take-home message: if you wanna be rich, don’t do opto; but if you wanna be comfortable and have a comfortable salary, hell to the yeah go for it!

(disclaimer: i’m talking about the situation in Quebec, not sure about other provinces!) and also sorry in advance for the text wall lmaooo

I have a few close friends that are ODs, and standard eye exams for routine review take them 20-30mins tops of in person time (they step out of room and do other work while patients are dilating etc). And they seem pretty competent but efficient (both did fellowships in the US as well where scope of practice is broader).

One of their clinics does not take overhead off of eye exams, per what the first user said (we talk alot about business finances in our respective fields).  

They make comfortable high 5 figure wages, without having to work too hard outside of "9-5" clinic hours, one makes 6 figures but has a stake in the clinic they work in.

Outside of Quebec