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A.  The practice of optometry in the state of Louisiana is declared a professional practice affecting the public health, safety, and welfare and is subject to regulation and control in the public interest.  It is further declared to be a matter of public interest and concern that the practice of optometry, as defined in this Chapter, merit and receive the confidence of the public and that only qualified persons be permitted to engage in the practice of optometry in the state of Louisiana.  This Chapter shall be liberally construed to carry out these objectives and purposes.

B.  The purpose of this Chapter is to promote, preserve, and protect the public health, safety, and welfare by and through education, as well as effective control and regulation of persons, in or out of the state, that practice optometry within this state.

C.  As used in this Chapter, the following terms have the meaning ascribed to them in this Section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1)  “Board” means the Louisiana State Board of Optometry Examiners.

(2)(a)  “Diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical agent” means any prescription or nonprescription drug delivered by any route of administration, used or prescribed for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, or mitigation of abnormal conditions and pathology of the human eye and its adnexa, or those which may be used for such purposes, and certain approved narcotics, when used in treatment of disorders or diseases of the eye and its adnexa.

(b)  Repealed by Acts 2014, No. 398, §2, eff. June 1, 2014.

(c)  “Diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical agent” shall not include any drug or other substance listed in Schedules I and II of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law provided in La. Rev. Stat. 40:963 and 964 which shall be prohibited from use by a licensed optometrist.

(d)  Repealed by Acts 2014, No. 398, §2, eff. June 1, 2014.

(e)  Licensed pharmacists of this state shall fill prescriptions for such pharmaceutical agents of licensed optometrists certified by the board to use such pharmaceutical agents. Licensed optometrists certified by the board to use pharmaceutical agents may direct licensed registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and other healthcare personnel to execute diagnostic and therapeutic orders and administer pharmaceutical agents. Licensed registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and other healthcare personnel shall execute diagnostic and therapeutic orders and administer pharmaceutical agents prescribed by licensed optometrists certified by the board to use pharmaceutical agents.

(3)  “Licensed optometrist” means a person licensed and holding a certificate issued under the provisions of this Chapter.

(4)(a)  “Ophthalmic surgery” means a procedure upon the human eye in which in vivo human tissue is injected, cut, burned, frozen, sutured, vaporized, coagulated, or photodisrupted by the use of surgical instrumentation such as, but not limited to, a scalpel, cryoprobe, laser, electric cautery, or ionizing radiation.  Nothing in this Chapter shall limit an optometrist’s ability to use diagnostic or therapeutic instruments utilizing laser or ultrasound technology in the performance of primary eye care or limit an optometrist’s ability to perform ophthalmic surgery procedures other than those specifically excluded in Subsection D of this Section.  Only persons licensed to practice medicine by the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners under the laws of this state may perform the ophthalmic surgery procedures specified in Subsection D of this Section.

(b)  Nothing in this Chapter shall prohibit the dilation and irrigation of lacrimal ducts, insertion and removal of lacrimal plugs, foreign body removal from superficial ocular tissue, suture removal, removal of eyelashes, drainage of superficial lesions of the eye and its adnexa, or corneal shaping with external ophthalmic devices such as contact lenses by optometrists, provided however, no optometrist shall carry out any such procedures referenced in this Paragraph unless certified by the board to treat these abnormal conditions and pathology of the human eye and its adnexa.

(5)  “Optometry” means that practice in which a person employs primary eye care procedures including ophthalmic surgery such as YAG laser capsulotomy, laser peripheral iridotomy, and laser trabeculoplasty, except for those surgery procedures specifically excluded in Subsection D of this Section; measures the powers and range of vision of the human eye using subjective or objective means, including the use of lenses and prisms before the eye and autorefractors or other automated testing devices to determine its accommodative and refractive state and general scope of function; and the adaptation, sale, and dispensing of frames and lenses in all their forms, including plano or zero power contact lenses, to overcome errors of refraction and restore as near as possible, normal human vision, or for orthotic, prosthetic, therapeutic, or cosmetic purposes with respect to contact lenses.  Optometry also includes the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal conditions and pathology of the human eye and its adnexa, including the use or prescription of vision therapy, ocular exercises, rehabilitation therapy, subnormal vision therapy, ordering of appropriate diagnostic lab or imaging tests; the dispensing of samples to initiate treatment; and the use or prescription of diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical agents.  With respect to frames and lenses, including those containing diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical agents, an optometrist may provide samples or dispense such products to his own patients, provided however that such dispensing activities shall conform to rules relative to packaging, labeling, and recordkeeping promulgated by the board.

D.  The following ophthalmic surgery procedures are excluded from the scope of practice of optometry, except for the preoperative and postoperative care of these procedures:

(1)  Retina laser procedures, Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileus (LASIK), Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK), laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK), and any form of refractive surgery.

(2)  Penetrating keratoplasty, corneal transplant, or lamellar keratoplasty.

(3)  The administration of general anesthesia.

(4)  Surgery done with general anesthesia.

(5)  Laser or nonlaser injection into the vitreous chamber of the eye to treat any macular or retinal disease.

(6)  The following nonlaser surgical procedures:

(a)  Surgery related to removal of the eye from a living human being.

(b)  Surgery requiring full thickness incision or excision of the cornea or sclera other than paracentesis in an emergency situation requiring immediate reduction of the pressure inside the eye.

(c)  Surgery requiring incision of the iris and ciliary body, including iris diathermy or cryotherapy.

(d)  Surgery requiring incision of the vitreous.

(e)  Surgery requiring incision of the retina.

(f)  Surgical extraction of the crystalline lens.

(g)  Surgical intraocular implants.

(h)  Incisional or excisional surgery of the extraocular muscles.

(i)  Surgery of the eyelid for suspect eyelid malignancies or for incisional cosmetic or mechanical repair of blepharochalasis, ptosis, and tarsorrhaphy.

(j)  Surgery of the bony orbit, including orbital implants.

(k)  Incisional or excisional surgery of the lacrimal system other than lacrimal probing or related procedures.

(l)  Surgery requiring full thickness conjunctivoplasty with graft or flap.

(m)  Any surgical procedure that does not provide for the correction and relief of ocular abnormalities.

(n)  Injection or incision into the eyeball.

(o)  Retrobulbar or intraorbital injection.

(p)  Surgery requiring suturing.

(q)  Pterygium surgery.

E.  In a public health emergency, the state health officer may authorize therapeutically licensed optometrists to administer inoculations for systemic health reasons.

Amended by Acts 1975, No. 123, §§1, 2; Acts 1993, No. 202, §1; Acts 1995, No. 1209, §1; Acts 2003, No. 987, §1; Acts 2005, No. 6, §1; Acts 2006, No. 596, §1; Acts 2007, No. 66, §1; Acts 2008, No. 439, §1; Acts 2011, No. 149, §1; Acts 2014, No. 398, §§1, 2, eff. June 1, 2014.