Large Language Models (LLMs), built on the transformer architecture, are revolutionizing optical network management by addressing the complexities of these highly specialized systems. Characterized by real-time performance requirements, multi-vendor equipment interoperability, and intricate signal processing, optical networks face challenges such as managing diverse transmission impairments, including chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion, and nonlinear effects. These challenges demand advanced automation and optimization techniques, which LLMs are well-suited to address. The integration of LLMs provides a scalable and adaptive approach to automating tasks like network configuration, fault diagnosis, alarm management, and routing and spectral assignment (RSA). By enhancing Quality of Transmission (QoT) estimation, optimizing amplifier gain control, and supporting advanced simulation frameworks, LLMs enable efficient and dynamic decision-making. Additionally, LLMs offer user-friendly interfaces and the ability to incorporate Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) systems, ensuring critical decisions are monitored and managed in real-time. The proposed framework for optical networks combines LLMs with digital twin technology, enabling real-time network monitoring, predictive analysis, and scenariobased optimization within virtualized environments. This synergy reduces operational complexity, enhances resource efficiency, and facilitates intelligent, autonomous decision-making. Despite their promise, LLMs face challenges such as hallucinations—producing semantically incorrect or fabricated outputs—and computational latency, particularly in real-time tasks like dynamic reconfiguration and fault resolution. Addressing these challenges requires strategies such as prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), fine-tuning with domainspecific data, and integrating error prediction models to improve accuracy and reduce risks. Techniques like edge computing, model pruning, and adaptive deployment help mitigate latency concerns while optimizing resource utilization. Energy efficiency is further enhanced through hardware optimization, algorithm refinement, and renewable energy adoption. Studies demonstrate that strategies like lowering graphics grocessing units (GPU) frequencies or employing model parallelism can significantly reduce energy consumption without sacrificing performance. This paper explores the transformative potential of LLMs in optical networks, highlighting their applications in network design, alarm compression, and resource optimization. The results demonstrate that with proper adaptation, including integration with digital twins and sustainable deployment strategies, LLMs can significantly enhance automation, scalability, and energy efficiency. By unifying diverse tasks under a single intelligent framework, LLMs offer a pathway to revolutionize optical network architectures, paving the way for greener, more intelligent, resilient, and adaptive communication systems.