From Our Editors

Facebook Groups Boost Optometric Connection and Growth

Photo Credit: Getty Images

By Vittorio Mena, OD, MS

Sept. 21, 2026

Earlier this month on the East Coast, many parents brought in their children for comprehensive eye exams to start off the school year. My social media feed was full of back-to-school deals and how to prepare for the new school year.

With both positive and negative effects, social media has become a somewhat crucial part of our everyday lives and businesses. “Social media can provide spaces for connection, identity formation, solidarity and social support. However, loneliness is on the rise, and reliance on text-based communication without the richness of voice, facial expressions or presence can reduce the quality of our connections.”¹

Because of this, I wanted to shine a light on the positive side. My goal is to share how social media, in this case through the use of Facebook, can help lift us up in the optometric community. There are so many ways that social media promotes connections, insights, updates on technologies, sharing of case studies and even job opportunities in our field.

PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL MEDIA FOR NETWORKING

With an ever-growing amount of social media platforms, Facebook continues to be capturing its users’ attention. Facebook has “3.07 billion monthly active users, where it sits at the top of the global social media order by a margin that no rival has come close to closing.”²

About eight years after the Facebook platform was introduced was the launch of one of the first professional Facebook groups for optometrists: ODs on Facebook. Since September 2011, this group has grown to more than 47,000 members and counting. It began as a “back of a napkin” idea to create a high-quality online optometric community where optometrists can share clinical and practice management content and have fun, but not at anyone’s expense.

It currently seems to be the largest, most highly engaged and most influential community in the industry online or off. Members include 72% U.S. ODs (33,000+), as well as 3,000 Canadian ODs and 3,200 international ODs. In February 2025, it earned the badge of Official Digital Advocacy Partner from the American Optometric Association as a proud partner.

HOW OPTOMETRISTS ARE REACTING

Facebook continues to be a place where our colleagues virtually visit its many optometric groups. I always find it interesting to see the variety in which our colleagues are drawn to. There’s often a mix of what our colleagues find amusing, repulsive, hilarious, discontent or are just plain curious about across these groups.

Two posts stood out recently from a group I co-created, OD Finance Professionals. It was intriguing to see what our fellow colleagues found entertaining or cared more about. In the same month, one post had an optometrist who was listed as the “oldest” optometrist to date (as of my knowledge) of 102 years old and another post had the “richest” optometrist (as of my knowledge) with a net worth of about $4.7 billion—yes, with a B. The members in the group cared more about the “oldest” living optometrist based on likes, however for the “richest” optometrist it got 1,213 more views on the post and yet 70 less likes!

FIND WHICH GROUP FITS

In order of creation, here are 21 optometric Facebook groups worth exploring. These stats were based on reporting in September 2026.

ODs on Facebook (Created by Dr. Alan Glazier); September 9, 2011: 47,315+ members

Private Practice in Optometry (Created by Dr. Matthew Alpert and Dr. Steve Silberberg); August 12, 2013: 6,504+ members

Corporate Optometry (Created by Dr. Maria Sampalis); July 6, 2014: 33,438+ members

Scleral Lens Practitioners (Created by Dr. Nate Schramm and Dr. Thanh Mai); February 24, 2015: 9,029+ members

ODs off Facebook (Created by Dr. James Jordan); September 4, 2015: 1,416+ members

Young ODs of America (Created by Dr. Anith Pillai, Dr. Justin Bazan and Dr. Will To); March 2, 2016: 2,693+ members

VT ODs on Facebook (Created by Dr. Jen Simonson and Dr. Joanna Carter); September 28, 2017: 4,575+ members

ODs on Finance (Created by Dr. Aaron Neufeld and Dr. Dat Bui); January 1, 2018: 22,000+ members

OD Divas (Created by Dr. Joan Miller); January 26, 2018: 9,848+ members

Sports Vision ODs (Created by Dr. Donald Teig and Dr. Charles Shidlofsky); March 4, 2018: 1,472+ members

EyeTrepreuneur (Created by Dr. Raymond Brill); November 26, 2018: 3,348+ members

OD on Facebook (Created by Dr. Miguel Delgado); March 19, 2019: 136+ members

Vision Therapy for Brain Injury & Concussion Support (Created by Dr. Katie Tarver); March 18, 2019: 5,476+ members

Myopia Control in Children (Created by Scott Steigrod); March 11, 2021: 34,773+ members

OD Finance Professionals (Created by Dr. Vittorio Mena and Dr. David Kong); September 1, 2023: 2,881+ members

Artificial Intelligence in Optometry (Created by Dr. Walter Mayo and Dr. Adam Parker); September 17, 2023: 1,761+ members

ODs on Facebook 3.0 (Created by Dr. Albert Evans); October 31, 2023: 278+ members

ODs at Disney (Created by Dr. John Nguyen); February 21, 2024: 454+ members

Taking Optometry Back (Created by Dr. Paul Heeg); February 2, 2025; 2,028+ members

AI for Eye Care Leaders (Created by Kyle Shechtman and Chase Fagen); June 18, 2026: 567+ members

AI in Eyecare (Created by Dr. Steve Silberberg); August 29, 2026: 115+ members

On this list, #1, #14 and #3 are thriving as the top three groups with the most members!

If we missed your group, let me know.

Since we are in the healthcare profession, I assume we care more about longevity rather than our own/people’s bank accounts—as demonstrated in the Facebook group posts I discussed earlier. However, I challenge all of you reading this article to strive for both!

P.S. While it’s not a group, don’t forget to follow the Review of Optometric Business Facebook page, too.

References

Vittorio Mena, OD, MS, is the sports vision director with Optical Academy. Dr. Mena is also an optometric financial coach/fiduciary with Series 6 and 63 investment licenses and Series 2-14 life and variable annuity licenses. To contact him: menavitt@gmail.com