Is the Optical Laboratory a Place For An Optician?

Not only are Opticians great with frames, frame selection and fit, but they are also greatly needed in the area of lens fabrication. When speaking of the area of lenses, we are not only discussing the sale of the lens along with knowing its attributes. In fact, we are talking about the making of a lens itself, and it all starts in an optical laboratory.

Pretty intimidating at first glance, but some of the most important information about lenses comes from the knowledge of the inner workings of the laboratory. Not all Opticians have had the experience of working in the back or behind that glass window where the pre-fabrication and fabrication of lenses takes place, however, starting here is a great place. Not only does it give the Optician step by step rules to live by when it comes to lens fabrication, but it also adds to their hands on experience when it comes to the entire craft. This is something that simply can’t be totally grasped inside of a book.

Base curves to laps, generators to edgers and coatings and polishing, all of these things like taking a lens blank to a brilliant source of magnification for eyewear.

Laboratory technicians are the people that are generally unseen, but do an awesome work. Some of these technicians are Opticians, however, many are not, but this is the perfect place for someone desiring to become certified or licensed to get their start in the eyewear field – an Optician and a Laboratory Technician rolled up into one!

The work is very detailed and one must learn to use equipment nearly one thousand times bigger than a screw driver, but it is well worth the wealth of knowledge an Optician can take away from the experience. For example, if an Optician is a manager of a retail chain that has a laboratory attached to it, such as Lenscrafters, it would be a great help if when things get backed up that the managing Optician would know how to help laboratory staff. Without that laboratory knowledge, it is a hopeless case.

Therefore, to answer the question of the laboratory being the proper place for an Optician, well, the answer is always yes. Especially in the beginning of that Optician’s career as it could open up more than just a couple of doors…such as Laboratory Manager in the future!