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optometry or orthoptics?

Hey guys!!

Need some advice about whether or not to do optometry or orthoptics!!

Does anyone know which is the highest salary?

And is optometry more competitive? I know the grade requirements are higher (AAB, orthoptics being BBB)

Thanks for your help!!!!! :smile:

Reply 1

madmazda86

Original post by happychickie

Hi,

Newly qualified orthoptists are band 5 on agenda for change, starting salary £21,388 before tax. Pre-reg optoms earn £14-17k according to this website:
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/optometrist_salary.htm
Obviously after your pre-reg year your salary goes up, hopefully there's an optom on here who can better advise you on pay scales for that. But there's no pre-reg year for orthoptists so Band 5 you get that straight away when you qualify.

Optometry is not any more or less competitive than orthoptics really, it balances out because optometry is offered at more institutions so there's more places. Orthoptics is only offered at Glasgow Caledonian, Liverpool and Sheffield unis and there's only about 70-80 places available across those three institutions.

Orthoptics courses are funded by the Dept of Health so you don't have to pay tuition fees and you also get a bursary towards your living costs (as well as a reduced rate student loan) - means you graduate with less debt, if that's a worry for you. If I hadn't gone down the academic route I probably would've paid off my student loan by now.

Grade requirements do not in any way mean orthoptics is an easier course - the two courses have similar content in terms of ocular anatomy, physiology, pathology etc, it's just that in optometry you'll learn more refraction, slit lamp etc and you're mainly refracting patients or diagnosing pathologies to refer on to other specialties (unless you do further specialisation after qualifying e.g. independent prescribing, ocular therapeutics etc which lets you do more management of your patients). Whereas in orthoptics there's a heavy focus on binocular vision, and you'll be autonomously managing patient case loads and managing their treatment etc. So you'll see a patient many times over a year, whereas much of the throughput in optometry practices is once-every-two-year refractions (this obviously changes depending on where you work and what that practice does etc).

So say for example somebody walks into your optometry practice and they're complaining of double vision - you'd test them to make sure their glasses were up to date and that wasn't the cause of their symptoms, and you'd test their eye movements and binocular alignment to see whether you could determine the cause of their double vision. But having diagnosed it you usually wouldn't be able to properly manage their condition with what you have available in your practice, you'd have to refer to an orthoptist for more advanced investigation, monitoring and treatment. Optoms can issue prisms and eye exercises but that's the limit of what they can do, if there's any kind of underlying pathology or the condition is likely to progress, be variable or change, they'll need a hospital referral. But at the same time as an optom you are the front line and patients come to you or their GP first if they're having problems, so it's a big responsibility and you need to be on the ball to know what's going on and what to do about it. Similarly, as an orthoptist, patients are referred to you and it's your responsibility to diagnose what's happening and the cause of it, and to either treat the cause or manage the symptoms to make the patient comfortable and improve their quality of life (like, if somebody has vertical double vision and it hasn't been treated, they could miss a step going down the stairs and break their hip). Again, big responsibility, your patient is depending on you! I've diagnosed brain tumours etc just from evaluating people's eye movements and it's down to you to put all the pieces together.

So yeah, optometrists and orthoptists are different roles that are equally important. I'm an orthoptist and I can't refract to save myself - sure, I learnt how to do it at university but it's just not a skill I require when I have optometrist colleagues to collaborate with who do it better :wink:

In the same way many optometrists feel a little out of their depth when confronted with a binocular vision problem and would much rather refer it on to an orthoptist. I teach 4th year optoms and they all find the binocular vision clinic completely alien territory despite being excellent students in every other area!

My advice would be to do some work experience in an optometry practice and in an orthoptic clinic and decide which one you prefer :smile:

Also, Glasgow Caledonian are doing an open day next week if you can get transport and accommodation there at short notice - they're the only institution to offer both Optometry AND Orthoptics so you can chat with the staff there and see the department if you think that would help.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

Katyh88

Work experience in each environment is definitely a good idea to get a feel for what optometrists and orthoptists do and how their clinics run. It's the best way to really see the difference between the two and also allows you to ask questions. Newly qualified orthoptists start at a band 5 salary as stated above and have no pre-reg year (but there are placements throughout each year so that's where you'll get your hands-on experience and patient contact). The pay for optometrists after their pre-reg year is very variable and will depend mainly on who their employer is but also on how many tests they do per day i.e. how long they allow per appointment slot.

Ultimately though, you've got to enjoy what you do or the pay doesn't matter (sounds cliche but its true!) so my advice would be to do some work experience and choose what you enjoy rather than what will get you the best salary :smile:

Reply 3

Neenee1

Hi guyss is anyone else in the same boat as me? I'm trying to chose between optometry and orthoptics, but I just can't make a decision!

could someone please give me their input on both courses (any help would be appreciated)

Reply 4

Tangotangodelta

Original post by Neenee1

hey. Have you read the 2 posts above ? They pretty much gave a very detailed answer to your question... what else do you need

Posted from TSR Mobile

Original post by skpatel

I wanted to do optometry but it is only possible for me to do it at one university being the university of bradford
Im not too sure but i was wondering if the first year of orthoptics is similar to the content of optometry first year at degree level? If so would there be a possibility of doing one year of orthoptics and continuing on to post grad optometry?! Please help im gutted i cant do optometry at my chosen uni pf manchester as i have not sat my alevels in two years but rather three

Its not possible to do 1 yr orthoptics and th rest in optometry. As far as I am aware, You have to start from scratch after the orthoptics degree unfortunately... Do a Foundation year in Life Sciences at Manchester and join the optometry bsc a year later ?

Reply 7

Neenee1

Original post by Tangotangodelta

Its not possible to do 1 yr orthoptics and th rest in optometry. As far as I am aware, You have to start from scratch after the orthoptics degree unfortunately... Do a Foundation year in Life Sciences at Manchester and join the optometry bsc a year later ?

What is this life sciences at Manchester? I've just heard of it now?

Reply 8

Tangotangodelta

Original post by Neenee1

What is this life sciences at Manchester? I've just heard of it now?

its a foundation year for those whose A levels are not strong enough ( or for mature students for example) . if you meet the grades you could join the bsc in optometry at manchester the year after. search for it on TSR. there was a thread on it recently