Occupation: Opticians, Dispensing

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.

29-2081.00 | 21 tasks | 10 job titles
Reported Job Titles (10)
  • Certified Optician
  • Contact Lens Technician
  • Dispensing Optician
  • Licensed Dispensing Optician (LDO)
  • Licensed Optician
  • Ophthalmic Dispenser
  • Optical Technician
  • Optician
  • Optometric Technician
  • Registered Optician
Core Tasks (21)
  • 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.