How To Become An Ophthalmic Surgical Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an ophthalmic surgical assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an ophthalmic surgical assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.18 an hour? That's $44,057 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 16% and produce 117,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreOphthalmic Surgical AssistantUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $44,057

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate 16%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.57%

Asian 9.26%

Black or African American 11.80%

Hispanic or Latino 18.88%

Unknown 4.83%

White 54.66%

Gender

female 88.98%

male 11.02%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an ophthalmic surgical assistant

Explore ophthalmic surgical assistant education requirements

Most common ophthalmic surgical assistant degrees

Associate

35.1 %

Bachelor's

32.4 %

Certificate

10.8 %

Start to develop specific ophthalmic surgical assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	30.38%
IOL	9.98%
Patient History	8.26%
Surgical Procedures	6.60%
Visual Acuity	4.99%

Complete relevant ophthalmic surgical assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New ophthalmic surgical assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an ophthalmic surgical assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real ophthalmic surgical assistant resumes.

Research ophthalmic surgical assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage surgical scheduling, cataract evaluations, ultrasounds, keratometry, IOL selection, and preoperative exam for surgery.
Perform surgical consultations and coordinate patients for surgery by scheduling with appropriate facilities.
Enhance quality of service and increase productivity by effectively counseling patients on elective refractive procedures.
Perform clinic work-ups/manifest refraction utilizing EMR, program and maintain laser equipment, clinical photography, and assist physicians during surgeries.

Prepare your ophthalmic surgical assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your ophthalmic surgical assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an ophthalmic surgical assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable ophthalmic surgical assistant resume templates

Build a professional ophthalmic surgical assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your ophthalmic surgical assistant resume.