Formerly glasses were given merely as an aid to vision, now they are prescribed for the relief of strain and its resultant symptoms, such as headache, etc. They are also supplied for efficiency and protection purposes to factory employees, for some workmen without glasses will exhibit as much eye fatigue in 5 hours as others will in 10; and employers are now recognizing this to their own advantage.
Thus the field of usefulness and profit for optometrists is ever enlarging.
Indoor Work—Physical Requirements
An optometrist confines his practice to office work, there being no traveling or outdoor activity. If desired, his office may be established in his own home. As the work is all indoors, there is no great physical strain. While sound health and normal strength are always desirable, robustness is not a first requirement of this vocation; nor is possession of all the members essential. A man who has lost a hand, an arm, a leg, or even both legs could successfully practice the profession of optometry, if properly fitted with artificial equipment. It is also quite possible for a man with one eye to practice optometry. To a determined man this would not prove an insurmountable obstacle, though he might be at a disadvantage because some patients might think he could not do his work as well. This is, of course, unreasonable, but should be considered. Several instances are known to the writer of successful optometrists who have lost the sight of one eye through cataract or other cause.
A Colorado woman who has been practicing optometry for a number of years sums up some of the advantages of this profession in the following words:
“There are fewer objectionable features, and more to commend the practice of optometry than in any other profession or semiprofession. No midnight calls, as in the case of the physician, no direct contact, as in osteopathy, or chiropractic; no proximity to offensive breath, as in dentistry. Variety and fascination attach to the work, besides the joy that comes with doing something that relieves suffering and is beneficial to humanity. The time required for preparation and getting established is somewhat less than for other professions; the expense incurred more moderate.”
The Demand for Optometrists
No man taking up the study of optometry need fear a lack of opportunity when his course is completed. There is a scarcity of optometrists all over this broad land, and in thousands of optometrists’ offices to-day opportunities are open for assistants. As such, an optometrist can develop a following, and eventually start for himself. Moreover, the call of young men to the defence of their country cut down the number of students in this, as in all other vocations; hence the number of graduates from the optometric schools and colleges is insufficient to meet the demand.
Another advantage in following this vocation is the fact that the profession is still in the formative stage. For this reason there are unusual opportunities for progressive, studious, conscientious men of the professional type.
The hours of work, which are regular, are of course determined by the individual practitioner; the man who has established his own office can make his hours to suit his own convenience. If he is employed by another optometrist, he will find the hours are not as long as in many other callings.