OD after a doctor’s name stands for Doctor of Optometry. It means the person completed a four-year professional doctorate program focused on eye and vision care. An optometrist with this degree is trained to examine your eyes, diagnose conditions, prescribe glasses and contact lenses, and treat a range of eye diseases with medication.
What an OD Is Trained to Do
Optometrists earn their OD degree from an accredited college of optometry. Before that, most complete a bachelor’s degree, though some programs accept students with prerequisite coursework and no bachelor’s. The optometry program itself is four years and combines classroom instruction with hands-on clinical training.
Once licensed, an OD can perform comprehensive eye exams, diagnose eye diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration, prescribe eyeglasses, contact lenses, and low vision aids, and write prescriptions for medications that treat eye conditions. Optometrists can also detect systemic diseases that show up in the eye, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and in some states they can administer vaccinations. About 19 states currently allow ODs to perform minor surgical procedures on the eyelids (for things like styes and cysts), and a handful of those also permit certain laser procedures.
How OD Differs From MD and DO
The distinction that trips most people up is the difference between an optometrist (OD) and an ophthalmologist (MD or DO). Both work with eyes, but their training paths diverge significantly. An ophthalmologist attends four years of medical school followed by four years of residency, accumulating over 12,000 to 16,000 hours of clinical training. An optometrist completes four years of optometry school with roughly one year of clinical rotations built in.
The practical difference comes down mostly to surgery. Ophthalmologists are trained to perform eye surgery, from cataract removal to retinal repair. Optometrists are not trained as surgeons. If you need an operation on your eyes, an ophthalmologist handles it. For routine eye exams, prescription updates, and management of common eye conditions, an OD is fully qualified.
OD vs. Optician
There’s a third eye care professional that sometimes causes confusion: the optician. Opticians are not doctors. They fit and dispense eyeglasses and contact lenses based on a prescription written by an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They don’t examine eyes, diagnose conditions, or prescribe anything. Think of the relationship this way: the OD (or ophthalmologist) determines what your eyes need, and the optician helps you get the right pair of glasses.
Specializations After the OD Degree
Like physicians, optometrists can pursue additional training through residency programs after earning their degree. These residencies typically last one year and let an OD develop deeper expertise in a focused area. Options include pediatric optometry, vision therapy and rehabilitation, neuro-optometry (dealing with neurological conditions that affect vision), retina care, brain injury rehabilitation, and low vision rehabilitation for patients with significant, permanent vision loss. A residency isn’t required to practice, but it signals advanced training in that particular area.
Licensing and Continuing Education
Earning the OD degree alone doesn’t allow someone to see patients. Every state requires optometrists to pass national board examinations and obtain a state license before they can practice. Once licensed, ODs must complete continuing education hours during each renewal period to keep their license active. In Florida, for example, that means 30 or more hours every two years across topics like medical error prevention, prescribing practices, and general clinical updates. Requirements vary by state, but all states mandate some form of ongoing education to ensure optometrists stay current.
If an OD lets their license go inactive for too long, they may need to pass a special examination or meet additional reactivation requirements before they can practice again.