Dr. Lauren Tabone owns Tabone Eye Care, an optometry clinic in Ancaster, Ontario, with a focus on ocular disease management and dry eye. As an independent practice owner, she spends much of her day making clinical decisions when there isn’t always one obvious answer—a skill that didn’t come overnight. Getting there meant first learning to trust her own clinical judgment. Here’s her story, as she tells it.
School’s Out
On my first day as a licensed optometrist, my exam room looked the same as every exam room I had trained in at school. My phoropter was in place, the patient’s chart was open, and my slit lamp was ready to go. It took me a moment to place what was actually different: after nine years of study, nobody was standing behind me anymore. While graduation made me a competent clinician, I didn’t feel like I was truly confident in my own abilities.
As a student, you get used to feeling like everything has a “right answer,” which you are being tested on. Then, almost overnight, that changes. When I first started to practice, the idea that I was the one making the final diagnosis and writing the prescription was scary. You can easily get trapped into feeling like you need a letter grade assigned to every patient interaction, and when that does not happen, you can feel adrift. This was one of the biggest mental hurdles after graduating from optometry school.
The Feedback I’ll Never Forget
One patient early in my career brought that lesson into focus. A young man in his early twenties came in with some light sensitivity, mild pain, and a bit of redness in one eye. He was going on a camping trip and wanted to get it checked before leaving. I remember sitting at the slit lamp staring at one tiny lesion on his cornea, asking myself, “Is this a dendrite?” It was such a small spot that I must have stared at it for at least two minutes. My patient was a real trooper.
In the end, I followed my instincts. I started him on antivirals for shingles and sent a letter to his family doctor. I could tell the patient wasn’t convinced that he had shingles, and to be fair, the tiny corneal lesion was his only symptom.
The next day, I received a fax from his family doctor saying that the patient had developed the classic shingles rash overnight, but because he’d already started the antiviral, it was very mild. Across the top of the report, the doctor had handwritten two simple words: “Nice catch!”
I had done everything by the book. I identified the lesion, prescribed the correct medication, and arranged the appropriate follow-up. But it wasn’t until another physician confirmed my diagnosis that I finally allowed myself to feel confident in my clinical judgment. I’ll never forget seeing that note.
The experience also taught me something else: it’s okay to tell a patient that you’re not completely sure of the root cause of their problem—as long as you have a plan for how you’re going to find the answer. Whether that means requesting blood work, consulting an ophthalmologist, or arranging additional testing, collaborating with other healthcare professionals doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’re doing what’s best for your patient.
Practice Makes Perfect
Of course, it’s not always easy. One of the most infuriating pieces of advice I would get from mentors or professors was “don’t worry, that comes with experience.” I couldn’t help but compare myself to them, despite them being 30 years into their careers.
But there is a reason why they refer to our profession as a “practice.” As optometry students, we study hard to gain the clinical knowledge needed to thrive, but it’s only once you step into the exam room that you begin “practicing” what you’ve absorbed. It’s unfair to compare yourself to optometrists who’ve been at the job for decades. They’ve had their practice; you’ve only just arrived.
Growth happens gradually, but that doesn’t rule out having some constants. Staying true to your own standards can ground you as you find your footing. For instance, no matter where I was in my profession, I would always ask myself: what would I expect if I were sitting in that chair? As long as I gave my patients that same treatment, I knew I was moving in the right direction.
Relationships Build Confidence
When it came time to open my own private practice, Tabone Eye Care, it wasn’t about ownership for its own sake. From early on, I believed private practice was where I could exercise the kind of patient care that mattered most to me. More importantly, it gave me the chance to truly get to know the people sitting in my chair and start building solid connections that would grow year after year.
A young girl with severe refractive amblyopia showed me what that meant. She was quiet, struggling in school, and unsure of herself when she first sat in my chair. Over the next two years, I watched her vision go from 20/100 in her right eye and 20/70 in her left eye to nearly 20/20 in both eyes, and watched her confidence grow right along with it. Seeing that transformation taught me more about my own competence than any exam ever could.
Patient relationships weren’t the only place I found that confidence; conferences helped too. After chatting with colleagues, I started to notice that every optometrist has strengths and weaknesses. No one optometrist truly knows everything about everything, and that’s part of the beauty of this profession. You can lean on each other when you’re stumped—the same way I once leaned on a family doctor, requesting additional testing to confirm a diagnosis I wasn’t sure of.
Being a new graduate meant I had gaps too, but it also meant I brought something to the table: newer knowledge from recent training. I once found myself explaining current radiofrequency and IPL dry eye treatments to colleagues who’d been practicing decades longer than I had. Learning goes both ways, and being able to offer fresh perspectives is very valuable.
Still Becoming
If I could tell new graduates one thing, it’s this: you’re not expected to know everything on day one; you’re expected to keep learning. Ask questions, while also lending support to your colleagues. Trust the training that got you to where you are so that you can continue to shape your career.
Even now, there are times I can feel overwhelmed by a difficult case. However, I feel like the biggest difference is knowing there is a community of optometrists who are ready to help you become that optometrist you want to be in 10 years.
Above all, don’t lose sight of why you became an optometrist in the first place. I became an optometrist to help people see better and take care of their eyes. As long as that stays at the centre of every decision I make, I’ll keep becoming the clinician I hoped I’d be when I graduated.
Confidence Grows Through Community
Confidence doesn’t develop overnight. It grows through experience, mentorship, and a community that challenges and supports you along the way. Whether you’re a new graduate or an experienced optometrist looking to continue growing, OSI Group offers educational programs, peer networking opportunities, and business resources designed to help you build the practice and career you envision. Learn more at www.opto.com.
