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Ophthalmologist: what the job actually is

A medical doctor and surgeon who treats diseases of the eye, including with surgery, on a very small scale and a very full list.

Published Last reviewed How we research and correct this

Ophthalmologist: quick facts

Ophthalmologist salary in Ontario: Job Bank reports one figure for the whole group of specialists in surgery, not for ophthalmologist alone. For that group the median pay is $403,957 a year (reference period 2023-2024). The group's three-year outlook in Ontario is good. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$403,957 a year
Pay range (low to high)
$118,538 to $749,689 a year
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Good
People working in it in Ontario
4,050
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 31101. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • A medical doctor who specialises in diseases of the eye, and who can operate on it. Job Bank's own page for ophthalmologist lists the job title as physician (specialist and surgeon).
  • It is not the same job as an optometrist or an optician. An optometrist has a Doctor of Optometry degree and mainly examines eyes and prescribes lenses. An optician fits glasses and contact lenses. Our pages are at /careers/jobs/optometrist and /careers/jobs/optician.
  • Job Bank files ophthalmologist under specialists in surgery, group 31101, the same group as our surgeon page, and reports one pay figure and one outlook for the whole group, not for eye surgeons alone.
  • Part of your week is clinic, where you examine eyes and decide whether surgery is the right answer. Part is the operating list, where you do a run of short, delicate operations one after another.
  • The work is small in scale. Eyes are tiny, the margins are tiny, and a lot of the skill is steadiness and being exactly right the same way many times in a row.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 7:30 — Arrive at the day surgery unit. Check the list, the equipment and which patients are nervous.
  2. 7:45 — Talk to the first patient. You explain what will happen, check the right eye is marked, and confirm they understand.
  3. 8:00 — The first operation, under a microscope. You work in a space the size of a fingernail, and the whole room is quiet.
  4. 9:00 — The second, the same kind of operation on a different person. Repetition is how the steadiness is built, and the way a tired hand starts.
  5. 11:30 — The sixth or seventh of the morning. You do not hurry, and you do not let the rhythm lull you.
  6. 12:30 — Lunch in the surgeons' room, then a call about a patient who has just come to the emergency department with an eye injury.
  7. 13:30 — Clinic. You examine eyes at a slit lamp and decide who needs an operation and who needs a different plan.
  8. 15:30 — A patient who has been told they will lose their sight. You take your time with the conversation.
  9. 17:00 — Notes, letters to optometrists and family doctors who referred patients to you.
  10. 18:00 — Home, with hands that are steady and a head that is not quite ready to stop.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like very fine hand work and can stay steady for long stretches under magnification.
  • You like repetition that rewards precision, and you do not mind doing the same operation many times.
  • You want to help people keep one of the senses they value most.
  • You like both examining and operating, and you are comfortable moving between clinic and operating room.
  • You can explain a technical problem to a nervous patient in simple words.
You may hate this if
  • You want a short route. After a bachelor's degree and medical school, Job Bank gives five to six years of specialty residency for this group, and says two more years of subspecialty training may be needed.
  • You dislike repetition. A list of similar operations can feel the same by the afternoon.
  • You cannot live with very small margins. A small error in a small space can matter a great deal to the person.
  • You do not like fixed lists. A full operating list means little room to rest, and a long day on your feet and on your neck.
  • You dislike telling people they may lose their vision. Some patients come to you late, and some conditions cannot be reversed.
  • You want to avoid call. Eye injuries and emergencies do not wait for the clinic.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Do a degree and get into medical school

    Job Bank says a bachelor's degree is usually required, then graduation from an approved medical school. Each Ontario school sets its own entry rules. Our family physician page lists the six Ontario medical schools. Note that this is a different route from optometry, which goes through the University of Waterloo's Doctor of Optometry.

  2. Match into an ophthalmology residency

    Job Bank's page for ophthalmologist says five to six years of specialty residency training are required, and that two years of subspecialty training may also be required. We did not read how places are given out, so ask a medical school and do not assume.

  3. Pass the Royal College examinations

    Job Bank says completing the certifying examinations of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and licensing are required. The CPSO's independent practice certificate page also lists Parts 1 and 2 of the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination.

  4. Get licensed by the CPSO

    Job Bank says certification through the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is compulsory before you can practise as an ophthalmologist and use the designation. The CPSO says a certificate holder may only practise in the areas where they are educated and experienced.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Ophthalmologist, requirements in Ontario · Job Bank — Specialists in surgery, requirements in Ontario · CPSO — Independent practice certificate requirements

The money

Ophthalmologist salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$118,538
Low (a year)
$403,957
Median (a year)
$749,689
High (a year)

Ontario, NOC 31101. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth. Job Bank reports this one by the year rather than by the hour, because the income is commission and the hours behind it are nothing like fixed.

Source: Job Bank — Ophthalmologist wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Good4 out of 5 stars

  • Employment is expected to remain relatively stable.
  • A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

4,050
people work in this job in Ontario
32%
are women (48% across all jobs)
64%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Specialists in surgery job prospects in Ontario (NOC 31101). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take senior biology, chemistry, physics and maths, and keep your marks strong. Optics is physics, and the route asks for the sciences throughout.
  • Try a small, steady hand task for twenty minutes: beading, model building, fine drawing. Notice whether your hand tires or settles.
  • Pay attention at your own next eye exam, and ask who does what in the office. It is a normal question.
  • Read the admission requirements of one Ontario medical school so you know what your university years need to include.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Do ten tiny identical tasks, then compare three eye jobs

About 60 minutes
  1. Take a handful of small beads and a thin thread. Thread ten beads in a set pattern, one at a time, and time each. Do not rush the last one. Use blunt objects only, nothing sharp.
  2. Note whether your timing and care got better or worse by the tenth, and whether you still cared about getting the last one exactly right.
  3. Open our pages for ophthalmologist, optometrist and optician. Write one line for each: what the person does, and the route in. Use only what the pages say.
  4. Circle the one you would choose, and write the one thing you would still need to find out.

What it tells you. If the beads absorbed you and the long surgical route still looked worth it, ophthalmology is a real direction and the grades and the sciences come next. If the repetition dragged, or the route looked too long, optometry or opticianry reaches the same field with a different length of study.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “How many operations do you do in a typical list, and how do you stay precise at the end?”
  2. “What do you do when an operation does not go as planned?”
  3. “How do you decide when surgery is the right answer?”
  4. “How do you work with optometrists who refer patients to you?”
  5. “What made you choose ophthalmology over another surgical specialty?”
  6. “What would you tell a student about the length and cost of the training?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Often, yes, in a limited sense. Job Bank's workforce figures show that most specialists in surgery are self-employed, and some eye surgeons have their own clinic. The operating list needs a hospital or surgical centre. Ask an ophthalmologist how theirs is arranged.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does an ophthalmologist make in Ontario?

Job Bank reports one figure for the whole group of specialists in surgery, not for an ophthalmologist alone. For that group the median pay is $403,957 a year (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $118,538 to $749,689 a year. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for an ophthalmologist in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment is expected to remain relatively stable. A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become an ophthalmologist in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Do a degree and get into medical school; Match into an ophthalmology residency; Pass the Royal College examinations.

How many people work as an ophthalmologist in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 4,050 people working in this job in Ontario. 32% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Health careers in Ontario: outlook and pay What can you do with your degree?

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

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Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.