Section 43-29-18. Construction of chapter

   (a) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize or permit any person to hold himself out as being able, or to offer, undertake, or attempt, by any means or method, to examine eyes or to diagnose, treat, correct, relieve, operate, or prescribe for any human ailment, deficiency, deformity, disease, injury, pain, or physical condition.

(b) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit or restrict, in any respect, the practice of medicine by duly licensed physicians authorized to practice under Article 2 of Chapter 34 of this title or the practice of optometry by duly licensed optometrists authorized to practice under Chapter 30 of this title. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit or restrict a duly licensed physician or optometrist from the practices enumerated and defined in this chapter; and such licensed physician or optometrist shall have all the rights and privileges which may accrue under this chapter to dispensing opticians licensed under this chapter.

(c) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to impede, limit, prevent, or restrict the furnishing, selling, or supplying of any commodities or services by any manufacturer, wholesaler, jobber, vendor, or distributor of any commodities or services to any manufacturer, wholesaler, jobber, vendor, or distributor thereof or to or as agent for any physician, optometrist, or dispensing optician or to any clinic, infirmary, or hospital or to any school, college, or university.

(d) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit an unlicensed person from performing merely mechanical work upon inert materials in an optical office or laboratory.

(e) The services and appliances relating to optical dispensing shall be dispensed, furnished, or supplied to the intended wearer or user thereof only upon prescription issued by a physician or an optometrist; but duplications, replacements, reproductions, or repetitions may be done without prescription, in which event any such act shall be construed to be optical dispensing the same as if performed on the basis of an original written prescription.

(f) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to require an employee of a licensed physician or a licensed optometrist to secure a license under this chapter or be otherwise subject to this chapter, so long as such employee is working exclusively for and under the direct supervision of such licensed physician or optometrist or licensed optician and does not hold himself out to the public generally as a dispensing optician.

Ga. L. 1956, p. 148, §§ 8, 14; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 43; Ga. L. 1994, p. 97, § 43; Ga. L. 1999, p. 81, § 43.