Optometry is a specialized health care profession that involves examining the eyes and related structures for defects or abnormalities. Optometrists are health care professionals who typically provide comprehensive primary eye care.
Vision therapy (VT), or behavioral optometry, is an umbrella term for alternative medicine treatments using eye exercises, based around the pseudoscientific claim that vision problems are the true underlying cause of learning difficulties, particularly in children. Vision therapy has not been shown to be effective using scientific studies, except for helping with convergence insufficiency. Most claims—for example that the therapy can address neurological, educational, and spatial difficulties—lack supporting evidence. Neither the American Academy of Pediatrics nor the American Academy of Ophthalmology support the use of vision therapy.
The College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) consists of optometrists, vision therapists, and other vision specialists.
The Optometric Extension Program Foundation (OEPF) is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the discipline of optometry, with recent emphasis on behavioral optometry and vision therapy.
The American Optometric Association (AOA), founded in 1898, represents approximately 37,000 doctors of optometry, optometry students and para-optometric assistants and technicians in the United States.
An eye care professional is an individual who provides a service related to the eyes or vision. It is any healthcare worker involved in eye care, from one with a small amount of post-secondary training to practitioners with a doctoral level of education.
The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) is an organization of optometrists based in Orlando, Florida. Its goal is to maintain and enhance excellence in optometric practice, by both promoting research and the dissemination of knowledge.
The Journal of Behavioral Optometry was a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Optometric Extension Program Foundation. It covered clinically relevant behavioral, functional, and developmental aspects of the visual system. It included the following categories of articles:
The Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley is an optometry school at the University of California, Berkeley. It offers a graduate-level, four-year professional program leading to the Doctor of Optometry degree (OD), and a one-year, ACOE-accredited residency program in clinical optometry specialties. It is also the home department for the multidisciplinary Vision Science Group at UC Berkeley, whose graduate students earn either MS or PhD degrees.
The eye care system in Ghana can be said to be one in its infant or growing stages. Today there are less than 300 eye care professionals taking care of the eye needs of over 23 million Ghanaians.
Optometry is a relatively new field in eye care in Ghana.
The Ghana Optometric Association (GOA) is the professional and regulatory body responsible for the development of the Optometry profession in Ghana.
Konrad Pesudovs is an Australian optometrist and outcomes researcher in ophthalmology; recognised as the leading optometrist researcher worldwide in terms of H-Index and total citations. He is SHARP Professor of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of New South Wales (2020-). He was the Foundation Chair of Optometry and Vision Science at Flinders University from 2009 to 2017.
The Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI) is an Australian nonprofit non-governmental organization with an international focus on eye care research and vision care delivery. Formerly the Institute for Eye Research, in 2010, it was renamed in recognition of co-founder and optometrist Professor Brien Holden OAM, a 1997 recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia for his contributions to eye care research.
Lynn F. Hellerstein is an American optometrist, speaker and author best known for her work in the field of vision therapy.
Vipin Buckshey is an Indian optometrist and the official optometrist to the President of India. Born on 3 June 1955 in Gwalior, in the Indian state of madhya Pradesh, he did his schooling at the Frank Anthony Public School after which secured a degree in optometry from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He started his career at Lawrence and Mayo, Delhi and a ophthalmic executive where he is reported to have established a contact lens division. Buckshey, who is known to have served five former Presidents of India and the Dalai Lama, is a former president of the Indian Contact Lens Society and the Indian Optometric Association and is credited with performing over 15,000 surgeries. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2000, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award Padma Shri.
The Association of Optometrists (AOP) is the leading representative membership organisation for optometrists in the United Kingdom.
The World Council of Optometry (WCO) is a membership organization for the development of optometry internationally. The WCO is the first and only optometric organization to have official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) which represents 250,000 optometrists from 75 member organizations in over 40 countries. The WCO organizes the World Congress of Optometry.
Optometry Today is a professional magazine, published bimonthly by the Association of Optometrists in the United Kingdom.
EyeCarePro Inc. is a digital marketing company focused on optometrists in the US and Canada. The company's CEO is Daniel Rostenne. The company's target audience includes eye care professionals, family practices and corporate groups. Services include client management systems and a variety of web and digital marketing services geared toward eyecare professionals.
