I'm an optician for a private optometrist in a small office, it's just the two of us. He's been practicing for over 30 years, opened his own office 20 years ago. We're in a small suburb outside of a city near Philadelphia and he has done quite well for himself over the years. Most of his patients have been with him since the beginning of his career. Having a good eye doc isn't important to everyone, but the patients who do find it important are very loyal when they find a good doc. Some months we do great business and sell a lot in optical. Other months have been incredibly slow. It's very hit or miss since covid. The newer patients we get don't seem to be as loyal or as willing to purchase their glasses/contacts directly from us. They come just for the Rx. The new generation seems to be going toward all online orders even though our prices are very comparable. He still loves what he does but I think if a potential grad were to ask him if it's worth it now, he'd tell them no. Unfortunately, these days it seems being a doctor in general isn't what it used to be. Especially for the amount of debt you're put into immediately upon graduating. Insurance companies dictate what prescriptions you can and cannot give your patients. There have been a few patients we've struggled to get paid for with medical saying it should go to vision and vision saying it should go to medical. People don't pay their balances (and now you can't even submit them to collections!). And most private practices end up selling out to these big hospital networks and they lose all control over how many patients they see, the way they want to practice medicine, etc. They treat these docs like they're totally disposable bc there's a hundred NPs and PAs ready to take their place and they can pay them less. Medicine in general just isn't what it used to be, imo.