Optometry

Optometry is the healthcare profession concerned with examining eyes and visual systems, diagnosing disorders of vision and eye health, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting and managing a wide range of ocular and systemic conditions. Optometrists are primary eye care practitioners who work on the front line of eye health, carrying out sight tests, fitting contact lenses, detecting conditions such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy, and referring patients with more complex needs to ophthalmology. The profession requires a solid grounding in the physical and biological sciences combined with strong clinical and patient communication skills.

At Cardiff University, this four-year full-time programme is one of the UK's established optometry schools, accredited by the General Optical Council, which is the statutory regulator of optometry in the UK. The programme combines academic study of visual science, ocular anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, optics, and pathology with a substantial programme of clinical placements in community and hospital eye care settings. You begin developing clinical skills from early in the programme, and the clinical component increases as you progress, so that by the time you graduate you have extensive supervised experience of examining patients across a range of presenting conditions.

Cardiff provides access to diverse clinical placement environments, including community optometry practices, hospital eye departments, and specialist low-vision services. The university's established relationships with placement providers across Wales and the wider UK support a rich and varied clinical education.

Graduates complete a preregistration year before registering with the General Optical Council to practise as optometrists. They work in high-street and independent optometry practices, hospital eye departments, and community eye care services. Specialist roles in contact lens practice, low vision, and paediatric optometry are available for those who wish to develop further expertise, and postgraduate study and professional development are well supported within the profession.