***Legislation passed during the 2025 West Virginia Legislative Session requires that all new Optometry license applicants be laser certified effective July 9, 2025.***
If you are interested in applying for a West Virginia Optometry license, you must apply for a license at the highest level of licensure (now injection and laser certified). Please contact the Board office to begin an application.
For new Optometry graduates after May 1, 2025, all new applicants must graduate from an accredited Optometry school or College of Optometry AND pass the Laser and Surgical Procedures Examination (LSPE) administered by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO) as defined in W. Va. Code §30-8B-5. For a current list of accredited Optometry Schools or Colleges of Optometry, please visit the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO).
For current West Virginia licensees who wish to become laser certified: Applicants must complete an approved course for injection certification or pass the NEBO ISE exam as well as complete an approved course for ophthalmic laser utilization certification or pass the NBEO LSPE exam.
WVBO Laser Certification Application--Current active WV Licensees (pdf)
Please return your completed application to the Board via email or send a hard copy to our office mailing address.
Once your Laser Certification Application is Board approved, please use the WVBO Laser Certification Proctored Report Forms (pdf) to document the completion of each required number of proctored procedures on a living human eye:
- Posterior Capsulotomy (YAG CAP) - five (5) proctored procedures required
- Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT) - five (5) proctored procedures required
- Peripheral Iridotomy (LPI) - four (4) proctored procedures required
You can choose to become certified in each of the three procedures outlined in W. Va. State Code 30-8B-4 and noted above, effective as of July 9, 2025. Additionally, not all proctored procedures need to be completed on the same day, but each proctored procedure must be under the supervision of a Board approved laser certified proctor. A list of Board approved laser certified proctors is available upon request.
Please be advised, if your proctored sessions take place in another laser-certified state, the proctor still needs to be Board approved. And all proctors that are observing procedures within West Virginia must have an active West Virginia Optometry license.
When the required number of proctored procedures are completed and documentation is submitted and approved by the Board, then a licensee will become fully laser certified in each procedure in West Virginia.
Once a West Virginia Optometry licensee is fully laser certified in each of the three procedures, you can complete the WVBO Laser Certification Proctor Application Form if you wish to serve as a West Virginia Laser Certification proctor.
West Virginia Laser Certification Proctors must be an Optometrist or Ophthalmologist licensed in good standing in the state where the proctoring is taking place, meet the requirements pursuant to W. Va. St. Code §30-8B-5 and have been pre-approved by the West Virginia Board of Optometry to serve as a proctor for West Virginia laser certification procedures.
WVBO Laser Certification Proctor Application Form (pdf) -- for all proctors
Current list of upcoming approved courses for ophthalmic laser utilization certification (updated August 2025):
American Academy of Optometry
October 8-11, 2025
Advanced Procedures Surgical and Laser Course
https://aaopt.org/meetings/academy-2025-boston-2/advanced-ophthalmic-procedures/
UPike - KY College of Optometry
October 23-26, 2025
Expanded Therapeutic Procedures Surgical and Laser
https://www.upike.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/KYCO-CE-Registration-Information-Oct-23-26-2025.pdf
If you do not see an upcoming course listed you believe meets the necessary criteria for the West Virginia ophthalmic laser utilization certification education requirement, please contact the Board for pre-approval before completing the course.