| License Description |
General information terms and definitions:
Diagnostic Optometrist – An optometrist certified to use diagnostic pharmaceutical agents.
Therapeutic Optometrist – An optometrist certified to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents. 73-19-1. Practice of optometry defined. (1) The practice of optometry is defined to be the application of optical principles, through technical methods and devices in the examination of human eyes for the purpose of ascertaining departures from the normal, measuring their functional powers and adapting or prescribing optical accessories, including spectacles, contact lenses and low-vision devices, for the aid thereof, including, but not limited to, the use of computerized or automated refracting devices, lenses and prisms, vision therapy and low-vision rehabilitation therapy. The practice of optometry shall include the prescribing and use of therapeutic pharmaceutical agents by optometrists certified under Sections 73-19-153 through 73-19-165. The practice of optometry shall include the removal of superficial foreign bodies from the eye or other noninvasive procedures. Nothing in this section or any other provision of law shall be construed to prohibit optometrists who have been certified under Sections 73-19-153 through 73-19-165 from providing postophthalmic surgical or clinical care and management with the advice and consultation of the operating or treating physician. One who is engaged in the practice of optometry as a profession as defined in this subsection and who has sufficient education and professional competence, as defined by the State Board of Optometry, shall be authorized to examine, diagnose, manage and treat conditions and diseases of the eye and eyelid, including the following: (a) The administration and prescribing of pharmaceutical agents rational to the diagnosis and treatment of conditions or diseases of the eye or eyelid; excluding administration that requires intraocular injection or intraocular implantation; (b) The performance of primary eye care procedures not otherwise excluded within this statute rational to the treatment of conditions or diseases of the eye or eyelid; (c) The performance and ordering of procedures and laboratory tests rational to the diagnosis of conditions or diseases of the eye and eyelid; excluding those requiring biopsy of any part of the globe or intraocular aspiration or penetration; (d) The use of a local anesthetic in conjunction with the primary care treatment of an eyelid lesion; provided, however, that no optometrist shall use a local anesthetic for this purpose unless the optometrist has met the certification requirements set forth by the Board of Optometry for the administration of pharmaceutical agents in the performance of primary eye care procedures. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as allowing an optometrist to perform any reconstructive surgical procedure on the eyelid; and (e) An optometrist may utilize local anesthesia by injection in performing the following procedures: (i) Needle drainage of an eyelid abscess, hematoma, bulla and seroma; (ii) Excision of a single epidermal lesion without characteristics of malignancy, no larger than five (5) millimeters in size and no deeper than the dermal layer of the skin; (iii) Incision and curettage of a nonrecurrent chalazion; (iv) Simple repair of an eyelid laceration no larger than two and one-half (2-1/2) centimeters and no deeper than the orbicularis muscle and not involving the eyelid margin or lacrimal drainage structures; or (v) Removal of foreign bodies in the eyelid not involving lid margin, lacrimal drainage structures, and extending no deeper than the orbicularis muscle. (2) Nothing in Chapter 316, Laws of 2021, shall be construed or interpreted to allow any optometrist to treat systemic diseases and/or conditions. (3) Optometrists practicing in this state shall not perform cataract surgery nor any other intraocular surgical procedure not specifically allowed in this statute. (4) Optometrists practicing under the authority of this section shall be held to the same standard of care as that of other physicians providing similar services. No optometrist shall practice under this section unless the optometrist has submitted to the Board of Optometry evidence of satisfactory completion of all education requirements and the board has certified the optometrist as educationally qualified. (5) An optometrist may perform the following if he has been certified by the Board of Optometry to perform optometric laser procedure: YAG laser posterior capsulotomy.
§ 73-19-17. Examination; qualifications. Any person over the age of twenty-one (21) years, of good moral character, and who has graduated from a high school or preparatory school affiliated with and recognized by a state university, and who has graduated from a reputable school or college of optometry, shall be entitled to stand the examination for license to practice optometry in Mississippi. The examining Board of Optometry shall keep on file a list of schools or colleges of optometry which are recognized by said board. The examination to practice optometry shall consist of tests in practical, theoretical and physiological optics, in theoretical and practical optometry and in anatomy and physiology of the eye and in pathology as applied to optometry. The State Board of Optometry shall not examine or certify any optometrist in any therapeutic procedures unless the optometrist has successfully completed the proper didactic education and supervised clinical training taught by an institution accredited by a regional or professional accreditation organization that is recognized or approved by the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation of the United States Department of Education, or its successor, and approved by the State Board of Optometry with the advice and consultation of the designated members of the State Board of Medical Licensure and the State Board of Pharmacy. § 73-19-19. Examination; effect of failure; certificate of licensure. Every person desiring to be licensed as in this chapter provided, shall file with the secretary an application, verified by oath, setting forth the facts which entitle the applicant to examination and licensure under the provisions of this chapter. The said board shall hold at least two (2) examinations each year. In case of failure at any examination the applicant, after the expiration of six (6) months and within two (2) years, shall have the privilege of a second examination by the board without the payment of an additional fee. In the case of any applicant who shall fail the examination twice, said applicant shall not be permitted to again take the examination until he has completed a further course of study outlined by the board and paid the examination fee therefor. Every applicant who shall pass the examination, and who shall otherwise comply with the provisions of this chapter, shall receive from the said board under its seal a certificate of licensure entitling him to practice optometry in this state, which certificate shall be duly registered in a record book to be properly kept by the secretary of the board for that purpose, which shall be open to public inspection, and a duly certified copy of said record shall be received as evidence in all courts of this state in the trial of any case. Each application or filing made under this section shall include the social security number(s) of the applicant in accordance with Section 93-11-64, Mississippi Code of 1972. |