₦airaland Forum

HighIQ:
instead of seeing an optometrist I wld prefer to buy an eye drop. Dentistry is far better and highly patronised. Come to OAU dental hospital u will see people with dental issues like swollen tongue etc.. Do you think thinks dentistry is not been patronised. Anyway, it depent on you as the dentist. A lot of people who prefer to have a sparkling white teeth, odorless mouths, tooth:brassing etc which are just simple part of dentistry. If you are good in business eg distributing pamphlets with the name of ur clinic embedded to different people like students, civil servants etc people in market and open places. Advertisting on posters, radio and so on. I assure people will fill ur clinic up. because almost everyone will prefer a better dentition as individuals, couples and others. But not anyone need to see an eye doctor, an eyedrop will work that out. And each dental operations are very costly imaging you having 5-20 people per day that cld be about 30-100 k per day

Bros i respect dentistry as a profession...
I also respect their training...
But the fact is that u cant compare dental care with eye care in naija...
Abroad dentistry is very lucrative because whites love sweet things...
Optometry is a money spinner in nigeria....
As dull as Benin city is there are eye clinics that average 400 -500k per day.
One can bear or manage a teeth problem but u cant manage an eye problem.
A verilux px can cost as much as 50k depending on the place.
90% of every old person visit eye clinic....
Whole families use lenses,contact lenses,etc
Only glaucoma screening can net u an average of 500k a week in Benin city if u hv a handheld tonometer...
Add visual field analyser and u start to see the pic....
Even clinics without adequate equipment,whose sole sustenance is refraction in Benin city can average 120 to 200k a week.
I use Benin as example because Benin is regarded as a being in the lower bracket margin when it comes to lucrativeness.
There is no dental clinic as big as Unique eye care in Nigeria which has branches in Europe.
Talk of those that deal in in importation of lenses and contact lenses.....
The optometrist makes money both from proceedures and product sales...
One contact lens work can cost 20 to 30k depending on practice.
Low vision rehabilitation can cost as much as 70 to 150k per px.

Bros abeg dont compare dentistry and optometry in private practice oooo.

They are not equals ooo.

awolam:
Please read carefully:
Optometry is a 6 years professional program that is not fully appreciated in Nigeria due to politics, ignorance, greed and the like.

In the United States, Optometrists earn anywhere between $70k to $150k per annum. Optometrists working in the middle east like UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia earn anywhere between $1,300-$3,400/month TAX FREE. In Nigeria, most Optometrists working in private clinics and hospitals typically earn below N90k per month (N1.8m/yr). If you are lucky to work in any government healthcare facility, you can earn upto N250k per aside from extra money you can make from private "runs" called PP.

Most graduates or students studying Optometry didnt apply to study OPT but were rejected by college of medicine (MBBS)so had to fall back to Optometry including myself.

Is Optometry lucrative? Well...its what you make of it depending on your level of ambition, tenacity and hardwork. It took me 12 yrs of hardwork after graduation to start reaping the benefits...it might be shorter for you.

If I would make the decision all over again, I will DO ANYTHING to study medicine and surgery. There's simply no comparison between the two programs in terms of prestige, recognition and remuneration. An entry level medical doctor in the middle east makes starting salary of $10k per month tax free with free health insurance, airticket and accomodation.

I sincerely wish you luck as you set out on this very long and tortous journey.

Cheers!!!

l

Bros 12 yrs post internship to make it as an optometrist?
Na wao....
And then ur fig of 10000/mth for entry level med drs in middle east
Na wao...

Hope say u no be impersonator?

Chartey:
You confuse optometry for ophthalmology.

Dont tell him that....How is he confusing both...
Can a gp touch the eyes for anything?
An optometrist treats eye diseases and prescribes drugs and manages ocular conditions....
In America they perform surgery....

There are many proceedures in eye care which are non invasive and complex which the optometrist performs....
Surgery makes up only about 7% of eye care.
80 % of ocular ox can be managed without surgery....
Surgery is usually a last resort....As a matter of fact Cataract Extraction is the only restorative ocular surgery in Nigeria.
Thats the only area ophthalmologists can hv an edge over optometrists.
And this area is compensated 4 by the fact that the optometrist reigns supreme ib refraction.
In private practice there is no much difference between both set of proffessionals...

Klinee:
guy shut! Who treat their tooth here nigeria? Optometry is far better than dentistry

So even dentistry is talking of lucrativeness when optometry is talking....na wao....
No matter how cow slim e no fit slim reach goat....

Dentistry would be like any other course if not for govt intervention....who goes to visit a dentist in nigeria...
I don survey am before o...

ugou:
Why not read medicine. Don't waste your years there after reading it and you become fustrated when you are shown your portfolio at work. Please do well to follow the news on the goings on in the Nigeria health sector. An optpmetrist according to standard international practice is one who studies on how to refract lenses (glasses) while an opthalmologist who is a specialist doctor in the eye (gotton after first becoming a medical doctor and spending futher years training on the eye) is far more superior in the sense that they operate on the eye, prescibe eye drugs and refract lenses. They boss the optometrist in eye hospitals. So think wisely. Actually optometry is diploma course in the UK but na naija arrangement made it a degree course. So I would advise you choose medicine and specialise in the eye if you like eye matters. THANKS

But this is what u did not tell him...
1.Optometrists diagnose and treat and prescribe drugs just like ophthalmologists.
2.Refractive problems make up 80% of all ocular problems.
3.Only few surgical proceedures are performed by nigerian ophthalmologists,mostly cataract extraction.
4.Refraction is the highest money spinner in eye specialty.
5.Ophthalmologists are quack when it comes to complex refractive proceedures.
6.Optonetry in Us,Canada and Australia are post graduate degrees and hence u must get a first degree before u can study it for 4yrs just like medicine.
7.England is desperately working to upgrade their to usa standards...and english optometrists also diagnose,treat and prescribe drugs...
8.American Optometrists perform surgery....
9.Optometry is very lucrative in Nigeria....
Just for the fun of it..,u lied in ur definition of optometry....but i guess the op can use wikipedia also....

Cmanforall:
WRONG perception of Dentistry.
Dentists do not just handle toothache. Hope your grandma will also remove that tooth, if its due?
Note, Dentists can still do their postgraduate training to become Maxillo-facial surgeons...

Dentistry is better than Optometry in all ramifications.
If you have an eye problem, I know you'll prefer seeing a dispensing optician to save cost. But if you have adequate knowledge and want to seek a professional consultation with respect to your eye problems, you will go for an Ophthalmologist. NOT an Optometrist.

Optometry is not worth the 6years university stress.

Bros no matter how bad optometry is it cant be as bad as dentistry.
Y does dental school take only 25 per class,because they know they cant make money outside govt....so they want to produce the amt govt can absorb...
A private practice dentist will die from hunger ooo

Optometrists own 70% of eye clinics in Nigeria.
In outreaches ,the line for those with teeth issues are always the shortest.Only few people...
But the line for eye issues are as long as anything.

Bros while there is a herbal remedy for tooth ache....non exist foe eye problems....

Pls never compare those 2 courses....

ixora3:
Ïîímy dear is not as lucrative as dentistry.how many pple eye d pain?agbo will jst reduce d pain but d problem is still dere.dentistry na hot course oh no go there

How can dentistry be compared with optometry in private practice?In Nigeria?Its not possible nah....Optometry is far more lucrative...Open any newspaper,the most common item after clothing is lenses....

Fabzgrace:
Really?
And some optometrists use ophthalmologists as technicians ?

Where does that happen?

You r making me repeat myself lady...
Anybody in the system will understand wat i am trying to say....
There are private clinics were the optometrist just invites the ophthalmologist to perform CE and leave.Their clinical input is just limited to the CE.They are paid and they leave hopling for another px.
The word 'technician' is used in a figurative sense...
They are just hired to perform their CE.

I dont understand ur incredulity...are u acquainted with the system?
What is ur arguement?
Or is it difficult to understand that CE is just a proceedure like other non-invasive proceedures?

Fabzgrace:
Don't play dumb with me.
Hey I'm nt talking abt a general practitioner.
I'm talking about the disparity between an ophthalmologist and an optometrist .
You just said Optometrists treat diseases.

The disparity between them here in Nigeria is surgery.
Optometrist treat diseases ophthalmologists treat diseases...
Even a 500l optometry students can investigate,diagnose and write valid drug px,but under supervision.
And like I said the only restorative surgery here in Nigeria is CE.
So?

Fabzgrace:
Ok then.
So,are you trying to say the doctors that patients consult to complain about their eyes and those that treat diseases are optometrists?
Pls tell me ooo,i need to know.

No general practitioner can practice as an eye doctor.
Which clinic have u gone to and an ordinary gp is treating ocular diseases...
Na wao...Have u seen anyone?
Only ophthalmologists and optometrists run eye clinic...
U r in Benin...Go to Faith and other eye centres and find out....
A general medical practitioner does not have the training to handle eye cases...
Its that simple....they can only refer...

If you go to a health care center and complain of eye issues,they refer u to their eyecare dept.
In that dept,only two kinds of doctors can practice their-an ophthalmologist or an optometrist.

Fabzgrace:
Hi, are you an optometrist or a 100l law student

Come out clean please cause the last time i checked, you claimed you just got admitted into law.

Are both mutually exclusive?
Didnt you go for the inaugural lecture of Prof. Osime-a prof of surgery and also a Barrister -at-Law which held on Dec 17?The guy is an academic general...definitely one of the men i look up to...

Fabzgrace:
Sorry but have you ever been to an eye clinic?

Yes,i hv....or wait....actually,i hv friends who own some...is there something i need to know?

InyinyaAgbaOku:
But the doctors do all these things? And they also have their stories of optometrists mismanaging PX before coming to them.

On a lighter note, Why exactly do u quote me twice?

Pls when u use the term 'doctors' specify.In the field of eye care we have only two doctors-The optometrist and the ophthalmologist.They are the ones qualified to run eye centres.An ordinary medical practitioner is not an eye doctor.
As a general practitioner u are not legally qualified to run an eye clinic.
That said,the ophthalmologist leans on the optometrist for complex optical proceedures while the optometrist in Nigeria does same for surgery.Both of them provide medical care.
In some optometrist eye clinics the optometrists use ophthalmologist like a technician.They just come, remove cataract and leave.Cataract removal is finished within an hour and the patient can leave immediately.The optometrist does the follow up.
Which stories do they hv?If they had everyone would hv heard abt it because many of them are just like u guys here-jealous and vindictive,even when u dont hv to be.
Have any optometrist been sued for px mismanagement?
In eye care one misdiagnosis can be fatal...i hope u know that...missing the presence of a comorbidity is deadly...
If optometrists make misdiagnosis many ophthalmologidts would hv been singing it to the media given medicine's penchant to pull down other professions.And Hmos would hv been running away from them....
I sincerely wish u would get into eye care...then u would know who is who and what is what.
In the mean time visit eye clinics and get firsthand knowledge...

On a lighter note ...my ipad has loves sending things twice...dont know y.

InyinyaAgbaOku:
Of course, there is a reason they are licensed to do that while you are not.
They have both medical knowledge plus eye stuff, yours is eye centered only. Deal with it.

I was telling you that optometry job was done by the doctors in the past but just to save time while dealing with patients, optometry aspect was carved out so that after seeing sb with refractive errors for eg, the doctor makes the diagnosis n the treatment plan, the optometrist sorts out the glasses or sth, instead of the doctor doing that and you are here yapping.
Or is the study of optometry not younger than medicine?
Who is referring a PX to you outside of glass issue? In a teaching hospital?

As for the teaching hospital,is it any wonder that they are death centres?
In my 600 level a patient was brought to our teaching clinic.The patient had a V.Aof 6/60 OD and H.M OS. During case history we discovered that a silly ophthalmologist in an area in Benin-i wont nention where-had been pumping him with drugs and irrelevant refractive prescription.
We discovered that the guy had keratoconus which a simple diagnostic proceedure called Munson sign would have shown...If the guy had been hit on the road and he had died from poor vision who would talk...the guy's vision worsened because the opthalmologist did not know the limits of his competency...
U have the same mentality...no wonder u r throwing up a deficiency in our system as a virtue...

Dont worry come into eye care...u will come and give me ur flyer begging me for patients like ophthalmologists do.

heykims:
Why this pained? I understand though.
If u can't beat them, u join them. U feel so dejected coz joining isn't even an option.

U guys are the most ignorant people i hv ever seen...i shudder to think of u as a professional...
Simple logical arguements u cant keep up with...u come on net to spill rubbish and make inane comments u cant substantiate...u were the one that said optometry is 5 yrs just to denigrate the course and make medicine look big...u r the only ones that spend 6 yrs in school...
U spend 6yrs and are still capable of ratiocination...i pity u guys...
Do those nonsense with other profession but wen it comes to eye care keep shut and dont expose ur ignorance....
Wat do i hv to join 4?
1.I am a doctor.....OD.
2.I diagnose and treat independently...
3.I can have an eye clinic if i want to with Hmos chasing me upand down.
4.I can hv my fellowship in Nigeria FNCO or inusa FAAO.
5.I did my internship in military hospital kaduna and was paid in the same cadre as house people.My friends did in state house.Same story.

So wat do i join 4,i ask again?

InyinyaAgbaOku:
Of course, there is a reason they are licensed to do that while you are not.
They have both medical knowledge plus eye stuff, yours is eye centered only. Deal with it.

I was telling you that optometry job was done by the doctors in the past but just to save time while dealing with patients, optometry aspect was carved out so that after seeing sb with refractive errors for eg, the doctor makes the diagnosis n the treatment plan, the optometrist sorts out the glasses or sth, instead of the doctor doing that and you are here yapping.
Or is the study of optometry not younger than medicine?
Who is referring a PX to you outside of glass issue? In a teaching hospital?

This guy which medical school did u attend?
Who told that optometry was carved out from ophthalmology...who taught u dat...
Optometry is an independent eye care profession along different developmental line from medicines....
Is optometry in the faculty of medicine?
An optometrist is a doctor ,u deal with.they are awarded OD not a bachelors degree.
Optometry have theiir own postgraduate colkege so what are u talking abt.
Optometrist treat eye dissases ,prescribe drugs and perform all preceedures including foreign bodyremoval in their capacity as doctors....contact lens work up and low vision care....
Wat do u mean by just to save time?
Between treating accomodative infacility and treating glaucoma which is easier....u funny o
Eye care has lots of proceecures....surgical is only about 5%
From different kinds of tonometry,biomicroscopy,perimetry,direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy,different forms of retinoscopic techniques from mohindra to cycloplegic to static to dynamic,geriatric and paediatriic techniques in external ocular examination,confrontation,accomodation and convergence measurement proceedures,gonioscopy,fundoscopy,von graffe,maddox wing and rod,Blur and push up amplitude,...and this only for general clinical exam...
In the field of orthoptics there are hosts from ac rock,to red lens to bagollini tests,to worth 4 dot test,to stereoacuity,to a host of others....then low vision and contact less assessment and treatment proceedures...
Surgery is a minor field in vision care.The only restorative ocular surgery is cataract.I was at the inaugural lecture a prof. of ophthalmology from ubth ,the only surgical proceedure she could boast of is cataract surgery.
See eye care has 4 components...optics,ocular health,surgical and orthoptics-low vision.
Optometry in usa is a provider of all.
In Nigeria they can provide all excepting surgery....
And just in case u are doubting...refraction is the money spinning proceedure...

InyinyaAgbaOku:
An opthalmologist knows more than an optometrist, are you gonna debate that one?

In Nigeria here they know more surgery...And that is only Nigeria because American optometrists perform full opthalmic chirugeries.
But in optics they know nothing...In clinical refraction they know nothing compared with an optometrist....And like i said they perform only few proceedures like ce,tplasty and pterygium excision.
All these proceedures we deal with them didactically....everything about them so that we can counsel a px on wat to expect....afterall we refer the pxts to them and they refer them back to us for post mangt...the only thing is we dont do them cause its illegal ...not because they are difficult..Some optonetrists may do them....but like i said,for now in nigeria,its illegal.
My guy u dont know who an optometrist is....so dont argue what u dont know....

InyinyaAgbaOku:
An opthalmologist knows more than an optometrist, are you gonna debate that one?

They dont.u wanna go there with me?Lets do it

5

InyinyaAgbaOku:
optometry is 6 years?
Optometry is not hard like medicine. simple
.
Every aspect of optometry is well covered in ophthalmology. Eye care was cumbersome for the doctor and optometry was carved out to take care of the lens part, though basic eye stuff are still taught to optometrist students too.
how is it among the 6hardest courses when there is a course /specialty that swallowed it?

Optometry is much more harder than medicine and i will tell u y...
Mbbs has width without depth.U guys just rotate within the periperals of specialties and come out to answer doctors...
Let me use eye care as a reference....
With all your brags on this forum a medical graduate cannot handle even a simple ocular case without referral...Even a thing as simple as anisometropia or accomodative esotropia they cant do it.
What they do is give analgesics for every headache and Saids with antibiotics for every red eye.Thats hw a gp was pumping a px with dexamethasone when the problem was simple hyperopia...
What then is the need for ur oohthalmology rotation when u guys know nothing....
In ur part 1 residency u start learning geometric and physical optics that an optometry student finished in 200 level.
Optometry is easy.....y is it that most of ur residents spend 6yrs instead of the stipulated 4 yrs studying it...or are u so ignorant that u dont know it...and they dont go into physiological optics at all...which is one of the most dense part of vision care...This is not withstanding the fact that being graduates and medicine being "difficult" as u said it should be a cakewalk for them.
OPTOMETRY IS WAY MUCH MORE DEEPER THAN MEDICINE...
In my 400 level many guys that failed out of our depts wrote jamb again went into medicine and are doing excellent...Go to uniben and ask...When we see ourselves they shrug and shudder at what they passed through....
Medicine is more visible than optometry and therefore more competitive...It is way more harder to gain admission into medicine than optometry...but that is where it ends...
In uniben optometry has the highest failure rate....
I rate pharmacy ahead of medicine in toughness...Sorry thats the truth.

InyinyaAgbaOku:
optometry is 6 years?
Optometry is not hard like medicine. simple
.
Every aspect of optometry is well covered in ophthalmology. Eye care was cumbersome for the doctor and optometry was carved out to take care of the lens part, though basic eye stuff are still taught to optometrist students too.
how is it among the 6hardest courses when there is a course /specialty that swallowed it?

U r not serious....u didnt even community health to know how optometry came abt....u r so ignorant...who created optometry...medicine?do u even know anything in physiological optics?u cant speak in the field of vision because u r too underqualified....even as a general practitioner u r still underqualified....
U do opthalmolgy indeed..u spend 3 months doing shadow test and pupillary test and u come here to spew nonsense...as if u can distinguish a healthy retina from a pathologic one....

heykims:
Medical students rotate through ophthalmology too in their clinical years in school nd it is even imbibed in their professional MBBS exam..
And here, it isnt just about examining for refractive errors nd prescribing glasses, u ve got to be equipped wt all eye diseases nd their management, surgical modalities inclusive..

You are speaking nonesense...the 2 months u spend learning penlight examination is y u want to come here and speak thrash...even a general medical practitioner of 10 yrs practice cannot make ocular diagnosis and u r spewing nonsense.
U r talking abt opthalmic surgery as if u know anything ....even ophthalmologists are quacks when it comes to complex refractive proceedures.....
Go and take the ophthalmology residency habdbook,then take the uniben optometry dept prospectus and compare both of them....
Ur residents spend two yrs studying things a 200 level student in optometry already knows...If they are not afraid let them let optometry graduates write their primary exams with them and then see if any of them will get a residency slot....
A good 500 level student of optometry will easily teach ur senior part 2 resident everythibg in their handbook with the exception of microsurgery....

U r talking abt surgical modalities....minus CE and pterygium ecxcision which other proceedures do ophthalmologists in nigeria perform?
U r very ignorant...i wish u will take me up on this so that i will disabuse ur mind for good....
Speaking as if u can even interprete the simplest of ophthalmic prescriptions....u think ocular diagnosis is gynaecology....as if u can even identify the simplest form of optic disc anomaly...

heykims:
Medical students rotate through ophthalmology too in their clinical years in school nd it is even imbibed in their professional MBBS exam..
And here, it isnt just about examining for refractive errors nd prescribing glasses, u ve got to be equipped wt all eye diseases nd their management, surgical modalities inclusive..

You are speaking nonesense...the 2 months u spend learning penlight examination is y u want to come here and speak thrash...even a general medical practitioner of 10 yrs practice cannot make ocular diagnosis and u r spewing nonsense.
G
U r talkijg abt opthalmic surgery as if u know anything ....even ophthalmologists are quacks when it comes to complex refractive proceedutes.....
Go and take the ophthalmology residency habdbook,then take the uniben optometry deot prospectus and compare both of them....
Ur residents spend two yrs studying things a 200 level student in optometry already knows...If they are not afraid let them let optometry graduates write their primary exams with them and then see if any of them will get a residency slot....
A good 500 level student of optometry will easily teach ur senior part 2 resident everythibg in their handbook with the exception of microsurgery....

U r talking abt surgical modalities....minus CE and pterygium ecxcision which other proceedures do ophthalmologists in nigeria perform?
U r very ignorant...i wish u will take me up on this so that i will disabuse ur mind for good....

R

AngelViva:
Pls wot about OPTOMETRY.....z it advisable to switch from optometry to nursin?

Angel,wat level are u in optometry.

Ebayray:
Alright, drop your number.

YungEX, Astro290, when I get to school 2mao,ill tell d Admin of da group to add you guys.

Kk.Mine is 08067865486.tnks very much.

Ebayray:
Nah...

We only have a temporary " class rep"..

When are you coming to school?!

Soon my dear.pls can u add me to the watsapp group for update.really need info.tnks so much.

Ebayray:
Astro290 nd YungEX, can both of you send ur numbers so I could tell da class rep to add u to deir whatsapp group chat for info bout hostel, classes, lecturers nd general info.

Hello pls has class rep been elected for 100 level law students

People are fond of judging the legal profession with the lot of the new entrees into the profession when there are SANs that have private jets plus the likes of Afe Babalola who owns a university in Nigeria.Minus pastors which other profession can boast of this.

swisscarter:
Yea..i recognised the monicker...okay which course are you aiming for?

Law,sir

swisscarter:
If i may ask..arent you the same origin guy on myschool.com that had 90 as post ume score and 81 agg?

Oui.c'est moi, monsieur.