Hello all pre-optomers. We are bringing in the New Year with a new segment here on the blog, called Career Spotlight, where we showcase and explore different specializations, career settings, technological advances, and more in the exciting world of optometry!
With your four years of optometry school you are crowned the title of an OD or Doctor of Optometry then beyond that you can do some residency time or even more school in order to specialize and hone your skills and knowledge in specifically the area of optometry you desire.
For our first trick let’s talk… Pediatric Optometry!
I thought this would be a good place to start with specializations since it’s still a broad population of patients you will see: children. Even though pediatric optometry refers to the treatment of the “pediatric population”, this actually covers a broad age range with widely varying needs, including all those between birth and 18 years of age.
- The early years of a child’s life is a critical time for vision development and monitoring. Despite the younger infant and toddler patients communication skills not fully developed testing and treatment are still possible through means like eye muscle movements, visual behavior, and dilation of the eyes.
- Vision problems can have a profound effect on how children learn and often parents don’t notice vision problems in children until after a child exhibits problems reading the board at school. Annual vision testing starting at 6months old is widely recommended to best diagnose and treat vision problems and eye diseases.
- If the pediatric optometry department sounds like a place for you check out the American Optometric Association’s Clinical Practice Guideline for Pediatric Eye and Vision Examination here to learn more about the scope and practices of working with this very special population.
So there you have it a small beginners look to the specialization of pediatrics!
Stay tuned for more of OAT Cracker’s exploration into the nooks and crannies of the optometry world!