Good news. The times for consulting an ophthalmologist are decreasing drastically, which confirms the favorable trend of recent years. While the average time for a telephone or internet consultation with an ophthalmologist was 66 days in 2017, the wait increased to 18 days in 2025, a 70% reduction.
“What is even more surprising, appointments made online show an average delay of only 16 days,” welcomes the National Union of Ophthalmologists of France (SNOF), which publishes its report this Thursday, October 16. “Making appointments online shortens delivery times by several days on average and provides immediate visibility of the available offer,” comments the study. In five years, the number of websites allowing ophthalmology appointments has increased by 51%.
“Doctolib represents 90% of ophthalmology appointment-making websites,” the SNOF report notes.
Normandy, Occitanie and Brittany are the regions where waiting times for a periodic check have decreased the most since 2019. Only Burgundy-Franche-Comté and Corsica have seen this waiting time increase by several days. Among France’s largest cities, Toulouse, Montpellier and Lyon have seen the biggest reduction in delays in six years.
Before 2017, strong patient demand (aging, increase in chronic diseases, post-Covid recovery, etc.) combined with numerous ophthalmologist retirements meant that delays between appointment and consultation were much longer. In addition, the report specifies that around a hundred fraudulent ophthalmological practices have been suspended by the State since 2023, forcing patients to “refer to existing practices.” This reorganization of the patient population in certain areas has therefore further increased pressure on waiting times.
Supported jobs, external consultations…
To address the shortage of doctors, several ophthalmologists have agreed to postpone the end of their careers, Vincent Dedes, president of SNOF, explains to BFMTV. “We have also developed assisted work,” he continues. This approach aims to delegate certain tasks to orthoptists, opticians or medical assistants in order to alleviate the workload of ophthalmologists.
Specifically, these professionals, who do not have the necessary medical skills to establish a diagnosis, can, for example, perform various screening exams or optical renewal. Today, 85% of ophthalmologists practice this way. This help allows them to focus solely on the medical aspect of the visit.
“Waiting times have been reduced by half in eight years and 78% of telephone appointments are currently achieved. This progress shows that we have reached a demographic and organizational milestone,” praises the president of the SNOF.
Vincent Dedes’ goal is clear: he wants to “promote access to ophthalmologists throughout the country.” To achieve this, the president of the National Union of Ophthalmologists of France explains that once a week, 15% of these eye professionals leave their main office in the city to consult in a more “remote” office, generally located in smaller towns. This alternation between two sites allowed the creation of 650 more offices, he indicates.
6,800 ophthalmologists in 2030
Today, the profession has about 6,000 ophthalmologists throughout France. And Vincent Dedes did not hide his satisfaction for the future of the profession. “We are going to experience a collapse in the number of retirements,” says the president of the SNOF.
The profession should thus register a positive balance of 50 vision specialists, that is, the number of retirements would be lower than the number of arrivals. In fact, the number of ophthalmologists will increase progressively until reaching between 6,700 and 6,800 professionals in 2030.
For tomorrow, the National Union of Ophthalmologists wants to “strengthen the place of orthoptists and medical assistants, promote the role of opticians in the monitoring and renewal of visual corrections or even generalize appointment booking platforms.” Vincent Dedes is categorical: “All the tools are there to meet the needs.”
Source: BFM TV
