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Date: 04/10/2026

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.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Grind lens edges, or apply coatings to lenses.
    • Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications.
    • Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands.
    • Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses.
    • Maintain records of customer prescriptions, work orders, and payments.
    • Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.
    • Show customers how to insert, remove, and care for their contact lenses.
    • Instruct clients in how to wear and care for eyeglasses.
    • Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping.
    • Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
    • Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions.
    • Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices.
    • Repair damaged frames.
    • Supervise the training of student opticians.
    • Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames.
    • Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions.
    • Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses.
    • Sell goods such as contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses, and goods related to eyes, in general.
    • Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
    • Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping.
    • Arrange and maintain displays of optical merchandise.
    • Order and purchase frames and lenses.
    • Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications.
    • Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
    • Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs.
    • Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.

    Skills

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    4
    Workplace Documents
    5
    Graphic Literacy
    4

    Abilities

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    Knowledge

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    Career Video

    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 48080/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 23.11/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 2,810
    • Yearly Projected Openings 230

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Social Orientation
    • Cooperation
    • Cautiousness
    • Attention to Detail
    • Dependability
    • Empathy

    Tools

    • Calipers
    • Cash registers
    • Desktop computers
    • Eye charts or vision cards
    • Half round file
    • Hex keys
    • Keratometers
    • Lens measuring equipment
    • Magnetic stripe readers and encoders
    • Notebook computers
    • Ophthalmic lensometers
    • Opticians tools
    • Personal computers
    • Screwdrivers
    • Tweezers

    Technology

    • Accounting software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Inventory management software
    • Medical software
    • Office suite software
    • Point of sale POS software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Word processing software

    Tags

    • Apprenticeships are available for this occupation. These programs can help you get hands-on experience and build your skills.

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