Also called: Artificial Eye Maker, Prosthetic Eye Specialist
Hand-makes custom artificial eyes for people who have lost an eye, painting them to match the real one.
You take a mold of a patient's eye socket, shape an acrylic eye to fit, then hand-paint the iris with tiny brushes, adding red threads of silk for blood vessels so it looks real. Patients often say getting their new eye is life-changing.
Estimated; fewer than a few hundred ocularists work in the US, many own their practice.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Apprenticeship, about 5 years after high school. High-school diploma plus about a 5-year apprenticeship; board certification through NEBO.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, Certification. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Ocularistry (apprenticeship), Fine Arts, Biology.
Growing about average. No BLS projection; a tiny, stable field.
Low risk for 10 years. Hand-painting custom eyes for patients is personal craft work; 3D scanning helps fit but humans finish.
Classes: Art, Biology, Chemistry.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.