how long to qualify?

**5-methoxy-N-acetyltryptam** · 21-12-2006, 11:30 PM

Roughly how long does it take to qualify as an Ophthalmologist after a Medicine degree.

and can ophthalmogogy doctors work as high street optometrists?

**Spencer Wells** · 21-12-2006, 11:46 PM

In the UK it'll take approx 9 years after med school graduation to reach consultant status. I don't believe that they would be able to work as high street optometrists, they would have to work within the NHS, in a hospital setting, performing surgery and such. Optometry is very different from ophthalmology.

**laurence83** · 22-12-2006, 12:26 AM

As it stands at the moment, after completing your medical degree you will have to do 2 foundation years before starting ophthalmic specialist training (OST). Once you're on that road you looking at 7 years to get your CCT (Certificate of Completion of Training).
So about 9 years in total.

Not sure about the optometrist bit, but I would assume to qualify as an optometrist would involve an entirely different training program.

**andy2** · 22-12-2006, 04:09 AM

indeed - don't confuse optometry with opthalmology. Optometrists are a separate profession with their own training system. Their job is to monitor eye function, particularly refractive errors and treat appropriately (usually with glasses). They also have an important role in screening for diseases such as strabismus (squint), glaucoma and retinal disease.

Opthalmologists on the other hand are doctors who specialise in the diseases of the eye - as such they would treat the diseases which an optometrist may pick up, along with patients referred from GPs, A+E etc... Beyond excluding refractive errors as a cause of the problem they seldom have much to do with this (the exception being corrective corneal surgery). Opthalmology involves a mixture of medical treatment and surgery -ranging from occulo-plastic work to vitreo-retinal surgery, and lens surgery in the middle. Lens surgery makes up the single area of their surgical work. There are a variety of medical treatments which can be used, and there is also increasing work with diabetic eye disease.