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American Board of Certification in Medical Optometry

How the Diploma Deluge is Reshaping Optometry

Review of Optometry

Comments by Dr. Kenneth J. Myers, President American Board of Certification in Medical Optometry

Although in the past decade concerns about the rapidly growing numbers of optometry graduates have been voiced at optometry web discussion boards, schools of optometry and the American Optometric Association continued to claim more graduates were needed. The AOA continued to report to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that greater numbers of future optometrists were needed…leading the popular media to portray optometry as a “hot” profession that stimulated the opening of more schools, especially at sites with osteopathic schools which were rapidly expanding.

And when the most recent (2014) and “definitive” study of future optometry and ophthalmology supply and demand (Lewin Study – supervised by the AOA) surveyed practicing optometrists and found an optometry overcapacity of 30%, the AOA interpreted this to mean “there would be an adequate supply of eyecare providers in the future”. See AOA Misinterprets Lewin Group Studies for more information.

Optometry appears traveling down the same “Yellow Brick Road” followed by law, veterinarian, pharmacy and other professional schools whose excess graduates carry large student debts and face restricted opportunities to practice their profession.

Meanwhile the ratio of “qualified optometry applicants per seat” has fallen to a record low of nearly one-to-one, the number of licensed optometrists per capita is at record highs and the almost doubled graduation rate of some 1,900 per year will eventually produce about 76,000 licensed optometrists compared to the current 42,000 which is a record number. And the U.S. birth rate has been falling each year since about 1996.

How does optometry growth compare?

Percent growth in degrees conferred 1986-2015 and male/female ratio of graduates in 2015 (Data complied from HEGIS Survey)

Dentistry       +15%,  1.08
Medicine        +15%,  1.09
Podiatry         -6%,  1.58
Chiropractic    -25%,  1.51
Veterinary      +24%,  0.28
Optometry       +47%,  0.50 *

* By 2020 total O.D. degrees conferred will be 85% higher than base year 1986 if enrollments remain at current level.

AOA Misinterprets Lewin Group Studies

Click here to read AOA’s misinterpretation of the Lewin Group Studies. The Lewin Group studies are available for free only to AOA members.

  • Eye Care Workforce Study, The Lewin Group, Inc., March 24, 2014
  • Eye Care Workforce Study: Supply and Demand Projections, The Lewin Group, Inc., April 25, 2014

For independent reviews of the Lewin Group findings please read

  • Review of Optometry: How the Diploma Deluge is Reshaping Optometry
  • Lewin Survey Finds Large Optometry Surpluses: An Editorial Analysis (PDF)

HEGIS Survey

U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, HEGIS Survey, Division of Education Statistics, Table 324.50, May, 2017.


Review of Optometry was the first non-academic trade association to investigate the optometry surplus. Bill Kekevian, Senior Editor, takes a look at the issue while focusing on the impact on academic standards.

Read the Full Article Online Version | PDF Version

Comments are welcome and can be sent to editor@abcmo.org for publication under the author's name.

July 9, 2018
Filed Under: Reflections

ABCMO News, Updates & Editorials


ABCMO News

  • Newsletter – ABCMO News and Updates – May 2022
  • A Reminder to VA Residents
  • Advanced Competence in Medical Optometry (ACMO) Exam – Friday, June 10, 2022
  • Newsletter – ABCMO News and Updates – September 2021
  • Newsletter – ABCMO News and Updates – January 2021

Reflections – Articles of Interest and Editorials

  • 10 Administrators for Every Doctor
  • What is Medical Optometry?
  • A Letter to VA Optometry Residency Coordinators: Benefits of ACMO
  • Retail and Clinical Pharmacy
  • It’s Time to Rethink Board Recertification

Comments are welcome and can be sent to editor@abcmo.org for publication under the author's name.

Email Updates

Certification Requirements

The following are in addition to an O.D. degree from an accredited North American school or college of optometry and a current state license to practice.

Residency: Completion of a full-time, ACOE (or equivalent) accredited, postgraduate clinical residency training program having major emphasis on medical optometry.

ACMO Exam: Passage of the Advanced Competence in Medical Optometry exam (or equivalent) offered by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry.

Practice: Documented significant practice of medical optometry for a minimum of two years immediately prior to application for certification.

The Practice requirement is waived in the two years immediately following residency training.

Complete Application and Requirements

Veterans/Military

  • Optometry Careers at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
  • Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) and Financial Assistance Program (FAP)
  • Uniformed Services University
  • American Board of Optometry Specialties

    ABCMO is a Member of the American Board of Optometry Specialties (ABOS)

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