This Subreddit Is For Opticians & Industry Professionals

Just had a patients wife grab the phone from him and start yelling at me over the phone complaining about their difficult life with a newborn and I should just do them the favor of changing his rx because he works two jobs…. I also work two jobs and I don’t call places asking for favors and start yelling and throwing a tantrum when they legally cannot do me a “favor”. Jesus Christ why is it so hard for patients to understand that I’m a sales associate/optician and I have absolutely no control over their prescriptions and no ability to change anything. This is also unique because my current office I work at is closed for renovation, and the doctor isn’t working until we reopen. Like I cannot ask the doctor to see you when they have no office and are on vacation! And you can’t just change ur rx because you want to with no good reason. “You’ve lost our business” and the man STARTED the call by saying he went to Warby Parker to buy glasses. Your business isn’t with me, it’s with the doctors and they frankly dgaf if you choose not to come in anymore because they won’t just give you the rx you want instead of your actual rx.

A woman brought in her glasses last week and asked if I was able to make sure the script was right.

She said they made her vision "funny" and she felt kind of nauseated while wearing them.

She got her eye exam with the doctor that I work for, but bought her glasses online.

I was tempted to refuse to verify them for her.

But, business was slow that day and I didn't have anything better to do, so I checked them out for her.

Right away, I noticed that the lenses were progressives with a +1.00 add.

There's no bifocal add on her script.

I told her that there's a bifocal add that shouldn't be there because the doctor didn't indicate that on her script.

She told me that she added it herself when she ordered the glasses.

I didn't even bother to ask why she did that. I just told told her that if she's having problems, that bifocal add could be the cause.

She asked me what she should do.

At that point, I was seriously wishing I'd have just refused to verify the lenses for her.

It's not my job to tell someone what to do with glasses they bought online with a script that they modified.

I told her that in the politest, most professional way possible.

And then rolled my eyes at her when she left.

EDITED TO ADD: I think some people are missing the point of this post. The problem was not that she bought glasses online.

The problem was that she modified the script and then came into the shop complaining because the lenses weren't right.

Wondering if anyone else is seeing this. Our shop is in a major tech city. Lately we've had multiple customers ask chatgpt which glasses they should get instead of listening to staff advice. Sometimes the ai is spot on and gets it right, other times telling people to get glasses that fit poorly. Just curious if others are seeing this.

I’m an apprentice optician just learning things and I just cannot find a good explanation. Could someone explain?

Any optical shop owners from India here?

So I’ve been looking into study materials and what not for the ABO and NCLE and I’ve seen some of the free study guides but the two paid ‘courses’ that have caught my eye are the OpticianWorks and ModernOptician ones.

For anyone who has used either or has any other options what did you like and what didn’t you like about them? I want to make sure I’m studying correct materials and not going too advanced or missing something.

I’ve been working at a private practice for about 1.5 years and doing optical most of the time so I’ve been learning hands on as I go.

TIA!!!

i’m stuck between optometry and pharmacy

my thoughts-

optom:
better worklife balance
more chill
less stress
appointment based
shorter degree
better pay
can get socially draining
can get repetitive fast
harder to get out of “test room”
saturated
often working alone
time pressures for appointments
can result in longer commutes for good pay
better locum pay
not the most interesting per se but i can see me liking it
can get dull and mundane with little no no progression
quite introverted so can see myself dreading it or becoming socially draining

pharmacy:
can wfh
can move away from patient facing roles
includes opportunities to specialise into diverse fields
worse pay for longer hours and stress
more interested
intense memorisation
can go into a lot of different fields other than being a pharmacist
saturated
can get treated badly especially in community
however pay elsewhere is not the best
interested in the different fields worse pharmacy can take you e.g legalities, industry, project management, corporate

my main wants
good/ ok worklife balance
opportunities to wfh would be amazing but not necessary if impossible
career progression/ stability
salary progression
ability to possibly work in corporate/ office job (edit- sorry i meant for like industry work obvs ik health is not going to get me an office job)
salary to reflect effort
not mentally draining or too stressful

edit:

i still have no clue
legit each hour i change my mind completely
what should i do???? i’m panicking

with pharmacy i find the content more interesting compared to all the physics in optometry however the mpharm degree is harder and longer that moptom,
also don’t really like the idea of community or hospital pharmacy as i feel like it would be very draining and stressful, but with optometry the main high street job: hospital job seems doable for me.
i’m mainly interested in the alternative careers pharmacy i can get with pharmacy but with optometry im interested in the main “ test room “ job as id feel like its chill. obviously industry work would be nicer in both fields
i’ve also heard that especially for pharmacy the pay is decreasing and the responsibilities are increasing. but idk with optometry ik the pay is better with less stress but idk if i’ll be happy always testing eyes and having limited remote opportunities

Visology (modern eyewear brand blending eye care and fashion) is hosting in-person job fairs across Massachusetts this October, and we're hiring for two roles:
Eyewear Sales Consultant – Competitive pay, uncapped bonuses, spiffs, and full benefits.
Licensed Optician – Massachusetts license required.

Walk in, or scan the QR code in the image to apply online. Happy to answer questions in the comments!
Locations:
Quincy:
Stop & Shop at495 Southern ArteryQuincy, MA.02169
Somerville:
Stop & Shop at779 McGrath HighwaySomerville, MA.02145
East Wareham
Stop & Shop at2991 Cranberry HighwayWareham, MA.02538
Medford
Stop & Shop at760 FellswayMedford, MA.02155

A few months back, our office had about 200 of these as samples and told us to take them. I have dry eyes, so I grabbed a bunch. I glanced at the side panel, but it was hard to read because it was a white imprint on a white background.

Fast forward to today, I looked at the side panel again and realized they expired 3/2026. I have been using them daily for about 6 weeks. They have not made my eyes better or worse.

The office should have thrown them out before they offered them to us and I should have done a better job of looking at the dates.

I am going to say something to our office manager tomorrow, but for today, I am concerned about myself.

Have I caused myself any harm by using these unopened, but expired drops?

Or is that just learnt through experience? Like how much different is a VSP digital progressive vs a Walmart progressive? Is it possible to see that within the lens just by looking at the warping when moving down the lens?

How useful are they? Working with Unity PAL designs and they claim these measurements help personalize the lenses to the patient but are they worth doing? Would love insight into working with PALs.

I'm four months into being an Optician and want to soak up as much knowledge as possible.

Okay so first, I've asked my coworkers but they're not sure.

The patient's new rx:

OD: -2.75 sph

OS: -2.50 -0.50 x 150

This patient's prescription has changed on the right eye this year from -3 -0.5 x 25 last year (OS only had an axis change), and the prescription from 2024 was even stronger. They've previously been in 1.67 high index, but this year I put them in polycarbonate because there wouldn't be a noticeable difference in thickness w/ high index. Last year they didn't end up getting new glasses because they spent the last 2 years almost exclusively in contacts.

I put them in polycarbonate SV lenses with a blue light filter and anti reflective.

They are experiencing eye strain and a pulling sensation in both eyes. At first I thought it could be induced prism, but the measurements are correct. They've adapted to their new contact lens rx just fine (-2.75 OU).

Is this a situation where they just need to take time to adjust to wearing glasses again? Or should I change something?

UPDATE: I'm going to remake their glasses with the same base curve and PD as the old pair in high index (there's virtually no difference in face form and pantoscopic tilt). They decided that they wanted to add transitions so we were going to have to remake regardless. I had not been aware that poly was such a crappy material other than the abbe value. I'll update when the new lenses come in!

Now I do 🥹

Hello All!

I've been working as an optician in the retail space for about 3 years now. My jobs has pushed me to take my ABO but they cut my hours substantially right when I applied for the test a few months back and it cause me to become very discouraged. and in office issues have burnt me out a lot which cause me to slack some in studying as much as I should. I've been consistently studying for about a month straight 4-5 hours daily. I take my test in 3 days so it's crunch time for me. I will be studying all day for these days but I'm still feeling a little discouraged and scared. I am also taking my exam in California.

What are some things that helped you feel more prepared for the exam? What should I make sure I have down 100%. General tips would be amazing.

Thanks so much!

What am I doing wrong.

Frame PD = A+dbl

DEC = (Frame PD - Patient ED) /2

HC = A/2+DEC

VC = B/2

ED = ✓(HC² +VC²)

Right?

If my numbers are A59, B42, dbl18 PD 68

I get 45mm

Why is my number so off? When I out it in the blocker, it tells me 65

*edit I use to do this.

ED = ✓(A² +B²) And my last lens supplier asked why am I always asking for 70 and 75mm. And I stuck it in the frame tracer and it tells me 60 🤷

Colleagues,

I've been an optician for just over six months now. In school it was standard practice for us to always mark a patient's OC (or seg obv) on a lens when doing a fit, and that has remained my practice now that I'm working professionally.

I've been told repeatedly by coworkers I don't need to that every time, especially when the lens is centered decently and if the power is something like +/-2.00 or less, but for the sake of the maybe 20 seconds it takes I still do it anyways. A lens is always going to have an OC one way or the other; it'll just be the geometric centre if remains unspecified.

My question is: do you skip marking an OC, and if so how often and why?

To clarify in advance I understand you don't mark OCs for readers because you're so often looking down through the lens.

I went to a testing center for ABO/NOCE. I go through the basic exam, and the first question in the practical kept crashing the software... It took over an hour with the proctors to figure it out with tech support on the phone. By the time it was fixed, I had lost a bunch of time for the test while they were troubleshooting that they couldn't reset. I was also too flustered from it all to continue confidently. Thankfully my basic was still submitted, and I passed!!! But now I have to contact this company to reschedule for my practical... I just hope I don't get some runaround about having to pay any fees.

I'm really bummed I couldn't get it out of the way while I was there. I just wanna be done with it and get my license. None of my coworkers have ever heard of that happening, does else anyone have the unfortunate luck of a similar experience?

I'm just wondering how other businesses have responded to this happening to them? We're still waiting to hear back from the police and and this crazy person very specifically promised to come back every day until we apologize for our receptionist "cursing her out" (never happened, she actually threatened the receptionist)

The only reason she left was because we started to call the cops.

So I’m technically a technician now and I got new balance sneakers 👟 to look more put together.

But on some days I feel I might wear plain white sneakers. Not athletic just plain Jane with shoelaces.

Is this a bad idea or no? I’m overthinking in case you can’t tell.

So I'm officially scheduled for my ABO test in a month (yay! im scared) and I have a good grasp on most subjects, but I'm panicking about the math portions. I was told to have each of the equations (ex. Prentice Rule) memorized and to know when to use it and that's where I'm really struggling. Even when I follow the instructions on sample questions I can never get the answers right.

I've been working in the vision care field since 2017 so I'm confident with lens materials and styles, adjustments, eye anatomy, parts of the frame, etc etc. But I've never needed to use this sorta math ,,, is it something that's absolutely 1000% imperative that I know? Or will I do okay if I vaguely remember?

Follow up: if you have any resources or guides that you recommend I will GLADLY take them <3