After completing a Bachelor of Arts, Fred Hollows turned his attentions to the priesthood. He took up ecclesiastical studies in 1950, but after one year decided to withdraw. The next year Hollows began a medical degree in Dunedin, New Zealand and in 1961 specialized in ophthalmology. In 1965 he was appointed Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales. During his tenure at the University he became aware of the impact of trachoma (eye disease, leading to blindness, caused by Chlamydia trachomatis) on Australia's rural and Aboriginal populations. Because Australia is the only developed country in the world where this disease still exists, Hollows fought hard to establish a national treatment program. In 1975 the Federal Government and Australian College of Ophthalmologists set up the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program and appointed Hollows as its Chairman. Over a three year period this program screened 100, 000 Australians.

In 1985 Fred Hollows was awarded the Order of Australia but refused to accept it in protest to the poor state of Aboriginal Health. Hollows was also a consultant for the World Health organization and visited many third world countries. He recognised that most blindness disorders in these countries were due to the lack of basic medical treatment, and therefore preventable. Cataracts were the commonest problem in these countries. But the high price of surgery and replacement lenses (the intraocular lens) meant treatment was not an option for most people. Hollows raised money to establish Intraocular lens factories in Nepal and Eritrea to dramatically reduce this cost ( by around 70%). In 1992 he established The Fred Hollows Foundation which continues to support expansion of these and other projects. Fred Hollows died of cancer in Sydney on 10 February 1993.