Optician

An Optician, or Dispensing Optician, is responsible for helping customers achieve the right type of eyeglasses, lense shape or contact lenses in accordance with their eyesight or eye conditions. Their duties include communicating with other eye care professionals to receive prescriptions and send them to Laboratory Technicians, providing customers with sample frames to fit their prescriptions and maintaining accurate customer data regarding their current or updated prescriptions.

Opticians usually work as part of a team of eye care professionals that includes Ophthalmologists and Optometrists. Their customers are people who have had an eye exam and received a prescription for corrective lenses. Opticians need to have a thorough understanding of the different types of optical aids available, and their duties usually include:

Interpreting the results of eye examinations, using prescriptions written by Optometrists and Ophthalmologists

Advising patients on frame weights, materials, styles and colors

Recommending lenses, coatings and frames to suit customers’ needs

Measuring customers to determine suitable types and styles of frames

Adjusting frames so they fit properly

Preparing orders for glasses and contact lenses by checking prescriptions, lens thickness and other specifications

Making sure that orders for glasses and contact lenses have been processed accurately