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Healthcare

Orthoptist

Diagnose and treat visual system disorders such as binocular vision and eye movement impairments.

Annual openings

75

Median wage

$101,570

Typical education

Bachelor's degree

Growth 2026–2032

+6%

Median wage source: Colorado BLS OEWS (2025).

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Career requirements

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Typical education

Bachelor's degree

Credential requirement

Credential requirements not reported

Work experience

This can be entry-level, but it could be an additional step on a career pathway.

Is this work a fit?

What the work actually feels like

How people in this career tend to spend their time, the interests it draws on, and a look at a typical day.

Automation exposure

Low exposure

Tasks here lean on judgement and people skills that are hard to automate.

A typical day

  1. Examine patients with problems related to ocular motility, binocular vision, amblyopia, or strabismus.
  2. Evaluate, diagnose, or treat disorders of the visual system with an emphasis on binocular vision or abnormal eye movements.
  3. Provide instructions to patients or family members concerning diagnoses or treatment plans.
  4. Perform diagnostic tests or measurements, such as motor testing, visual acuity testing, lensometry, retinoscopy, and color vision testing.
  5. Provide nonsurgical interventions, including corrective lenses, patches, drops, fusion exercises, or stereograms, to treat conditions such as strabismus, heterophoria, and convergence insufficiency.
  6. Develop nonsurgical treatment plans for patients with conditions such as strabismus, nystagmus, and other visual disorders.
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