Belittlement of optometry

Does anyone else have second thoughts about optometry because of peoples opinions? Like Ive seen many people belittle the field saying that optometrists arent “real doctors”. I even watched a vid of an MD saying that they are midlevels. Stuff like that makes me have mixed feelings. Optometry is haaard work and i would absolutely hate putting all my effort and time into a field to help people just for them to say “ur not a real doctor”.