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Date: 10/18/2026

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

    • Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses.
    • 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.
    • Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions.
    • Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications.
    • Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping.
    • Arrange and maintain displays of optical merchandise.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • Grind lens edges, or apply coatings to lenses.
    • Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames.
    • Repair damaged frames.
    • Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
    • Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
    • Order and purchase frames and lenses.
    • Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands.
    • Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.
    • Supervise the training of student opticians.

    Skills

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Monitoring

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

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Coordination

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

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Systems Analysis

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

    • Troubleshooting

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

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Equipment Selection

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

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Critical Thinking

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

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Operations Analysis

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

    • Complex Problem Solving

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

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Operations Monitoring

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

    • Systems Evaluation

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

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Active Listening

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

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Learning Strategies

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

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

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

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    4
    Workplace Documents
    5
    Graphic Literacy
    4

    Abilities

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Perceptual Speed

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

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Glare Sensitivity

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

    • Gross Body Coordination

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

    • Reaction Time

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

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Visualization

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

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Rate Control

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

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Auditory Attention

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

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

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

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Control Precision

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

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Inductive Reasoning

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

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Response Orientation

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

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

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

    • Extent Flexibility

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

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Depth Perception

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

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Multilimb Coordination

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

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    Knowledge

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • Mathematics

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

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • History and Archeology

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

    • Computers and Electronics

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

    • 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.

    • Food Production

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

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • Design

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

    • 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.

    • Economics and Accounting

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

    • 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.

    • Biology

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

    • Sociology and Anthropology

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

    • Fine Arts

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

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • Mechanical

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

    • 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.

    • Telecommunications

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

    • 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.

    • Transportation

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

    • 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.

    Career Video

    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 50500/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 24.28/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 computer
    • Eye charts or vision cards
    • Half round file
    • Hex keys
    • Keratometers
    • Lens measuring equipment
    • Magnetic stripe readers and encoders
    • Notebook computer
    • Ophthalmic lensometers
    • Opticians tools
    • Personal computer
    • Screwdrivers
    • Tweezers

    Technology

    • Accounting software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Inventory management software
    • Medical software
    • Office suite 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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    The Workforce Supply Tool provides statistics for the occupations in highest demand throughout Ohio.

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