Dr. Rafieetary: What I wish I knew before entering optometry

Mohammad Rafieetary, OD, of Charles Retina Institute in Germantown, Tenn., shares what he wishes he knew before entering optometry.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity:

What I wish I knew more before I entered optometry is the flexibility of after becoming an optometrist, of the type of things you can get involved with.

You know, right now we have a lot of colleagues that, for instance, are medical science liaisons for a number of companies. Nobody explained to us that, you know, you could go to optometry school and get involved with, you know, with some sort of scientific thing.

I didn't know that, you know; all I knew was: you go to optometry school, become an optometrist and become a clinician.

And I think many of the young folks that are entering optometry school still do not have that knowledge of what are the type of areas you can get involved after you get the optometric degree, you know. What, you know, other than clinical work, what are the other things you can do.

Now, having said that, I love what I'm doing. I've been in the retina space for the last 26 years, and I really enjoy my work.