Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 73 - PROFESSIONS AND VOCATIONS (§§ 73-1-1 — 73-79-1) › Chapter 19 - OPTOMETRY AND OPTOMETRISTS (§§ 73-19-1 — 73-19-195) › GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 73-19-1 — 73-19-45) › Section 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.
Codes, Hemingway's 1921 Supp. § 6124a; 1930, § 5652; 1942, § 8832; Laws, 1920, ch. 217; reenacted, Laws, 1983, ch. 438, § 1; reenacted, Laws, 1991, ch. 303, § 1; Laws, 1994, ch. 573, § 10; Laws, 2005, ch. 404, § 1, eff. 7/1/2005.
Amended by Laws, 2021, ch. 316, HB 1302,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2021.