Opticians, Dispensing
Design, measure, fit, and adapt lenses and frames for client according to written optical prescription or specification. Assist client with inserting, removing, and caring for contact lenses. Assist client with selecting frames. Measure customer for size of eyeglasses and coordinate frames with facial and eye measurements and optical prescription. Prepare work order for optical laboratory containing instructions for grinding and mounting lenses in frames. Verify exactness of finished lens spectacles. Adjust frame and lens position to fit client. May shape or reshape frames. Includes contact lens opticians.
Also known as: Certified Optician, Contact Lens Fitter, Contact Lens Technician, Dispensing and Measuring Optician, Dispensing Optician, Eyecare Advisor, Eyeglass Fitter, Eyewear Specialist, ...
Annual Salary
Median annual wage (May 2024)
Job Outlook
Projected growth, 2024–2034 (About average)
What You'd Do
- 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.
- Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses.
- 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.
- Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping.
- Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs.
- Sell goods such as contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses, and goods related to eyes, in general.
- Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands.
- Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.
- Instruct clients in how to wear and care for eyeglasses.
- Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.
- Show customers how to insert, remove, and care for their contact lenses.
- Repair damaged frames.
- Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
- Arrange and maintain displays of optical merchandise.
- Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications.
- Grind lens edges, or apply coatings to lenses.
- Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames.
- Supervise the training of student opticians.
Top Skills
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Knowledge Areas
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Education Level Distribution
Percentage of workers in this occupation by education level
Technology & Tools
Software and tools commonly used in this role
In-Demand Technologies
Other Tools
Work Styles
Personality traits and work styles important for this career
Key Abilities
Cognitive, physical, and sensory abilities important for this role
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Work Activities
General types of job behaviors occurring on this job
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Work Environment
Physical and social factors that influence the nature of work
Related Careers
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Salary data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024. Outlook data: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license.