Find Your Charge Through a Career in Optometry

Dr. Miki Lyn Zilnicki Riverhead, New York

Dr. Zilnicki owns her own practice where she changes lives through vision therapy. All while balancing her other passions in life—yoga, her daughter and helping out on her husband’s farm.

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Dr. Jeffrey Lewis Champaign, Illinois

Fueling strong connections drives Dr. Lewis—whether that’s with his patients in the exam room or on the dance floor when he’s deejaying. His life is full of the things and people he loves.

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Dr. Muriel Martinez Houston, Texas

Whether she’s in the lecture hall with students, the exam room with patients, or at the studio rehearsing for her next dance competition, Dr. Martinez is getting the most out of life.

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Explore the possibilities of a career in optometry.

Learn more about finding the right optometry school or college for you, the application process and the different modalities you can pursue. Plus, get updates and information from participating schools and colleges of optometry.

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Three reasons to seriously consider a career in optometry

Strong Patient Relationships

“The relationships that I develop with my patients are unique and special because not only do I get to provide them with the highest quality of care for what arguably is the most important sense, but I get to do that in an affordable manner and also spend the time that these patients deserve. Unfortunately, there’s a trend in health care right now where it’s less and less time with the patient as the doctor, but in optometry, you have a say in how much time you want to spend with your patients, and my relationships extend beyond these walls.”

Earning Potential

“I think the earning potential is empowering. It gives you freedom. You can travel; you can dance; you can do so many things. You can change lives while you’re doing all that stuff at the same time.”

Career Autonomy

“I chose optometry because I knew that I wanted a family. And I knew this profession was one that would give me that balance between work and family. And I could feel successful in a career … You are in complete control of your future and your success. And not many professions give that to you.”

Dr. Miki Lyn Zilnicki

Entrepreneur. Vision Therapist.

At 27 years old, my business partner and I opened our own optometry and vision therapy practice. As a vision therapist, I work with kids with binocular vision disorders, lazy eyes, eye turns, or reading issues, and adults with traumatic brain injuries, post-stroke, or post-concussion vision syndrome. Because I see them on a biweekly basis, and through rehabilitating their vision, I get to understand how they’re using their eyes. So as they progress through their program, I witness all the positive changes they go through—allowing me to really feel the benefit of what I’m doing with them every day.

Lover of Yoga,
Farm-to-Table Feasts,and Family.

For me, when I career shadowed other medical doctors, I found that some didn’t get to begin their life outside of work until they were much older. That’s not what I wanted. I wanted to be present and young with a family. Optometry allowed me to do that. There’s not that many eye emergencies to take me from my family. My quality of life is wonderful, and I have everything I could ever ask for.

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis

Doctor. Changer of
Patients’ Lives.

I became an optometrist because everybody needs health care, and optometry empowers me to provide an affordable health care to my community. I’m able to have an immediate, life-changing impact on patients—whether that’s through detection of a serious health issue, or through lenses that help them see their world. It’s about being the best I can and giving that to everyone else. If you’re a student interested in challenging yourself, interested in providing for your community, you should become a Doctor of Optometry.

Builder of Community
and Relationships.

Developing relationships is everything to me. Optometry gives that to me, and so does my event planning business. It’s how I express myself and bring people together. Seeing everybody connect with each other, to see all the faces, all the people joyous, free, relaxed, just enjoying the company and forgetting about all their worries, it’s a happiness that can’t be bought. Optometry also gives me the financial security to be able to raise a family, but more importantly, it gives me the time to spend with that family.

Dr. Muriel Martinez

Professor. Advocate.

I chose optometry because I wanted to be a voice for people that can’t have a voice or don’t know how to use their voice to say if something is wrong. That happens a lot with children with special needs. They can’t tell you if they can’t see. So I come in, and I’m able to advocate for them, tell the parent, “They need eyeglasses. They need vision therapy. They aren’t thriving because they can’t see, and I can easily change that.” I’m also changing lives in the lecture hall. I’m educating future doctors that are then going to impact others’ lives. It’s like I’m impacting all these lives that I will never even know about.

Mover
and Shaker to Her Own Beat.

Optometry has fulfilled me. I’m able to feel good about what I do every day, go home, and have a life of my own. Salsa dancing is my escape from everything. It makes me feel alive. I dance competitively, and practice four or five nights of the week (sometimes every night of the week if I can). And every Friday, I attend salsa night at the local aquarium.