Maine lawmakers will decide whether to allow optometrists to perform minor eye surgeries, an expansion of their scope of practice that is being opposed by ophthalmologists.

The bill, LD 1803, was carried over from the 2025 session and is expected to be voted on by the House and Senate in the coming weeks.

Dr. Jessilin Quint, an Augusta optometrist and board member for the Maine Optometric Association, said in an interview that Maine has a high demand for eye care. If optometrists could do more procedures, that would reduce wait times and improve access to care, Quint said.

Quint said the expanded patient care optometrists want to do in Maine — and are permitted to perform in some other states — are simple office procedures, including a laser procedure that improves vision after cataract surgery and removing skin tags.

“Surgery is a very dramatic word, but these are in-office, same day procedures, and patients are not put to sleep,” Quint said. “For these specific procedures, optometrists do have the education and training to do them.”

Dr. Michelle Harris, an ophthalmologist and president of the Maine Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, said they are opposed to the bill, warning the move could endanger patients. Ophthalmologists have more advanced medical training. Harris said the training optometrists receive for surgeries is “vastly” less than for ophthalmologists.

Harris said eye surgeons go through four years of medical school followed by four to six years of residency, where they learn how to perform many different types of surgeries and how to manage patients after the procedures.

“No surgery on the eye should be considered minor,” Harris said in an interview. “All eye surgeries have the potential for serious complications, including complications that can lead to blindness.”

Quint said optometrists receive training for the minor procedures they want to perform.

“There’s no data to support optometrists can’t do these procedures to a safe standard,” Quint said.

Harris said there is not a lot of demand in Maine for the procedures optometrists want to perform. She said a December 2025 survey done for the Maine Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons shows that 76% of those surveyed were satisfied with their access to eye care.

“What they are asking to perform is a wide expansion of their scope of practice, and not in line with what most states allow,” Harris said.

Quint said recent surveys done for the Maine Optometric Association show average wait times for consultations were six months or longer for procedures like the skin tag removals and post-cataract surgery care.

“Maine is a state with a lot of aging eyes, and we don’t have enough doctors able to do these procedures,” Quint said.