Many of us come to them for advice on choosing glasses, contact lenses and/or sunglasses. But what exactly is the optician's role? We'd like to tell you more about the optician's profession.
Many people confuse the professions of opticians and optometrists, even though each has a distinct but complementary role in caring for their patients' eye health. While an optometrist is a health professional who performs eye examinations and treats minor pathologies, an optician helps patients to be fitted properly with new contact lenses and eyeglasses after obtaining a prescription from an optometrist. Here are the many roles and responsibilities of an optician.
Providing glasses or contact lenses that comply with the patient's prescription
The optician's primary role is to help patients find the glasses or contact lenses that best suit their vision and lifestyle. This starts by ensuring that the optometrist's prescription is used correctly to find glasses that will offer the best quality of vision while providing each individual with the best possible option by reducing any potential tension that the wrong prescription glasses or contact lenses might create.
Suggesting glasses adapted to the patient's tastes and needs
The different types of lenses, frames and coatings, such as photochromic lenses or anti-reflective coatings, are generally unfamiliar to patients. The optician informs patients of the options for their next pair of glasses.
From the latest lens technology, such as progressive lenses, multifocal contact lenses or polarized sunglasses, the optician will know and recommend various choices to the patient according to their activities, tastes and prescription.
Glasses are also an element of style for most patients, and opticians help them sort through the wide variety of styles available to find the glasses that suit them best. This means assisting patients to choose the type and shape of the frame.
Likewise, opticians help patients find a style of eyewear that sits comfortably on their faces. This usually involves measuring facial features. Both aesthetics and comfort are linked to each person's unique personal preferences, so opticians must be able to identify the best alternatives for each person's tastes. With the help of iProfil, IRIS' exclusive software, opticians use state-of-the-art technology to design your Palma lenses.
Fitting the glasses
Once the optician has worked out which glasses are most appropriate for the prescription and lifestyle, they will select the lenses to be sent to our laboratory, Fovea, in Ville Saint-Laurent, Quebec.
Once the glasses have been delivered, the optician will make the necessary adjustments to ensure comfort and clear vision.
Moreover, the optician can also repair glasses, even if the frames have been broken, and will teach you how to care for your glasses and contact lenses to get the best wear out of them and preserve the quality of IRIS products.
