20-Year Prospect

20-Year Prospect

Fun fact: The vast majority of people have eyes. Usually two of them, but there's a certain amount of variance there. What's also variable is how well those eyes work. Many of them don't work quite as well as they should.

In the short term, all signs point to great times for ophthalmologists (source). It sounds like there will be more jobs available than people who can reliably spell "ophthalmologist." The amount of jobs is going up, and it's not like there are going to be dramatically fewer cases of cataracts any time soon.

The biggest challenge that ophthalmologists are going to face comes in the form of technological advances (source). While it's tempting to think of some giant robot performing surgery with his plunger, machine gun, and screams of "OPERATE! OPERATE!" no one has done this yet. Probably due to fear.

Eye surgeons of tomorrow? Please no. (Source)

Ophthalmologists are going to have to become comfortable with these eventually. In all probability, future surgery robots will include an array of laser-based technology, which will be really tempting to turn into lightsabers. Nanites, or microscopic robots, which are both amazing and terrifying, are the next step in most surgical technology (source).

One day, an injection of robots will be enough to cure what ails you. Until then, ophthalmologists will continue to be sought after.