Quick Facts
An optician assists people to choose contact lenses and frames for eyeglasses. Additionally, they use the prescription by the optometrist or ophthalmologist to sell the appropriate eyewear.. In fact, they even get to provide advice on the best style of glasses for the customer. These professionals also educator people on in the proper eyewear maintenance and carry out various office tasks.
How to Become an Optician
An employer would most likely give first consideration to someone that carried an associate’s degree or certificate from a community college that has provided both classroom and clinical experience. These programs have coursework in math, business management, optics, and eye physiology. They are provided with experience in clinical work under supervision and are exposed to the use of optical physics, precision measuring instruments, and optical math. It is possible to enter this occupation with a high school diploma or equivalent and receive on-the-job training.
Half of the U.S. states require opticians to be licensed. Some opticians complete a 2-year apprenticeship. Education programs usually include classroom instruction and clinical experience. Coursework in these programs include math, business management, optics, and eye physiology. Students also acquire skills under supervised clinical work to learn optical physics, optical math, and precision measuring instruments for hands-on experience. Programs may also include distance-learning options.
Job Description of an Optician
Opticians are responsible for following prescriptions given by an optometrist and/or ophthalmologist and helping a customer select the best eyewear or contact lens. This would include measuring the client’s eyes, face, and distance between their pupils.
Opticians need to determine appropriate eyewear in the case of sports needs, work environment, and style preference. He or she prepares work orders for ophthalmic laboratory technicians. They adjust the eyewear to the customer and replace or repair broken eyeglass frames. An optician educates the customer on eyewear, for instance, proper cleaning or contact care. They also have business tasks such as ordering and maintaining inventory, maintaining sales records, and keeping track of customer’s prescriptions. Some dispensing opticians working in smaller shops may cut lenses and insert them into frames.
Opticians are also involved in maintaining inventory, keeping sales records, and precise records of a client’s prescriptions. An optician should be skilled in business, communication, and customer service. They should have dexterity and have decision-making skills as well. They work in a variety of places such as physician’s offices, stores, or larger retail establishments typically on a full-time basis.
Optician Career Video Transcript
Well-fitting, attractive up-to-date glasses or contact lenses give people a new look, and even better, help them see the world more clearly. Opticians help customers choose eyeglass frames or contact lenses, following prescriptions from ophthalmologists and optometrists. After measuring customers’ eyes and faces, opticians create work orders to have the glasses and lenses made when the glasses come in from the manufacturer, opticians adjust them to fit the customer and teach customers how to care for their eyewear.
Opticians working in small shops or preparing custom orders may sometimes cut lenses and prepare frames… many repair broken frames. They also maintain sales records, keep track of customers’ prescriptions, and order inventory. Opticians generally work full time, although part-time schedules are not uncommon. Most opticians work in optometrist offices and in retail stores which may include evening and weekend hours. Opticians typically have a high school diploma or equivalent and receive on-the-job training. Some opticians earn an associate’s degree or a certificate. Many states require licensure.
Article Citations
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Opticians .
National Center for O*NET Development. 29-2081.00. O*NET OnLine.
The career video is in the public domain from the U. S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
Typical Tasks & Responsibilities
- Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices.
- Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications.
- Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.
- Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs.
- Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions.
- Maintain records of customer prescriptions, work orders, and payments.
- Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands.
- Show customers how to insert, remove, and care for their contact lenses.
- Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.
- Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses.
- Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
- Sell goods such as contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses, and goods related to eyes, in general.
- Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications.
- Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping.
- Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames.
- Instruct clients in how to wear and care for eyeglasses.
- Supervise the training of student opticians.
- Order and purchase frames and lenses.
- Grind lens edges, or apply coatings to lenses.
- Repair damaged frames.
- Arrange and maintain displays of optical merchandise.