Job description: The main job of an optical technician is to create a wide variety of lenses for varying purposes. The lenses generally created by an optical technician include: contact lenses, prescribed eye glasses, and other optical instruments. An optical technician works in ophthalmic laboratories and can work independently or on retail. As an optical technician you have to work under the supervision of authorized a certified professionals like ophthalmologists and optometrists.
An optical technician always works on the backside of the counter meaning he doesn’t deal with customers. An optometrist is the one who deals with the customers checks their eye sight, takes care of prescriptions, etc. The main job of the optical technician is to find out which equipment would be perfect for a customer on the basis of the information mentioned on the prescription.
Various jobs of an optical technician:
- Creating Glasses: The technician has to find the right lenses available in the stock and then grind them so that they would meet the specification mentioned on the prescription. After the lenses are prepared they need to be fir into a frame selected by the customer that is also the responsibility of the technician. Repairing broken pair of glasses is also the responsibility of the technician.
- Creating Contact Lenses: Almost same procedure is followed for creating contact lenses also. The right equipment needs to be identified. This is followed by cutting outside and inside curvature of the lenses according to customer’s requirement. The prescription contains all the real eye details required to make the perfect pair of contact lenses for a customer.
In order to become a technical optician you must be at least high school pass. After that you need a one year vocational training and certificate to prove your credibility in the field. You can also enter a medical college and get a two year degree on the same.