“The sense that I’ve helped to optimise the vision of my patients gives me a sense of fulfilment”
To mark World Optometry Day 2022, we talked to optometrist Nina Marcus – who has 20 years of experience under her belt – about her profession, the things that she enjoys the most and the importance of raising awareness of this profession.
1) Hi Nina, can you tell us more about what you do and what a normal working day looks like to you?
I work in the hospital and the community. At the hospital, I’m part of the eye paediatric team, so here I examine children's eyes from birth to the age of 16. We also check the eyes of premature babies as they have a higher risk of eye complications and children who need spectacles as part of their overall management for squints and amblyopia -'lazy eye' .
I also work in a Medical Retina Clinic assessing patients who need injections to their eyes for a variety of conditions.
In the community, I work in a visual stress clinic where I look after children and adults who suffer with perceptual distortions and visual discomfort when they read. This can often cause unresolved eyestrain, visual fatigue and headaches ultimately resulting in a dislike of reading and impacting school and work life.
I also visit special needs schools and test students’ eyes. This works well because they often find the high street or hospital setting overwhelming thereby making their eye examinations more stressful for them and their parents.
Some days I work in a high street practice where I carry out routine eye examinations on the general public, prescribing spectacles and contact lenses for common eye focusing conditions.
2) What does an optometrist do?
It takes four years to become a registered optometrist. An optometrist's job consists of assessing vision, examining the eyes for signs of eye disease or the need for correction of refractive error in the form of spectacles or contact lenses, liaising with hospital eye specialists for further assessment and management when required, assessing and managing common binocular vision problems and liaising with hospital orthoptists where further management is required. Optometrists also prescribe myopia (short-sightedness) control spectacles and contact lenses as myopia is on the rise especially in the young population.
Optometrists also have extended roles and manage minor eye conditions including red eyes and dry eyes in their high street practices. In the hospital settings, optometrists work in extended role capacities in glaucoma, eye casualty, cataract, oculoplastic and medical retina clinics, playing a significant role in delivering hospital eye care.
3) What do you enjoy the most about your job?
I love meeting people and working with them to address any eye concerns they might present with. I also like the fact that I work in a team and see patients from diverse backgrounds and from all ages.
That sense that I have helped to optimise the vision of my patients using the different tools I have available to me gives me a sense of fulfilment.
The knowledge that that by doing my job, I am making a positive contribution to people's visual experience in some way is what keeps me going every day.
4) Why were you interested in this field/job? What was most attractive about this profession?
I wanted a profession where I could work with people in the clinical setting and coming from a family of medics, optometry offered me the balance I was looking for.
Also, to have the opportunity to promote eye health, help support development and preservation of vision, working in a team and with people.
As a mother of two, optometry has also afforded me the flexibility to work around my family commitments. The option to be self-employed and manage my availability for work is a real plus.
5) Why do you think it's important that we raise awareness about this profession?
Awareness and education are key to tapping into our services.
Through regular eye examinations, eye conditions can be picked up quite early and prompt treatment initiated.
Sometimes, health conditions can be spotted through eye examinations offering the red flag that there is an underlying health issue.
I recall early on in my career, during a routine eye examination at the high street practice where I worked at the time, finding an abnormal lesion on the retina of a gentleman. I referred him urgently to the hospital eye service where he went on to receive treatment for an eye tumour. His wife was convinced that through prompt discovery and subsequent diagnosis and treatment, her husband's life was extended by five years.
6) Anything else that you would like to say about celebrating World Optometrist Day at Whipps Cross?
The Eye treatment Centre at Whipps Cross delivers eye care to such a large local community and it seems fitting that Whipps Cross should host this event to showcase the huge contribution of their optometrists to this service.
Celebrating World Optometry Day can also help us generate greater awareness amongst young ones who may be contemplating their career choices for the future.