Eye & Contact Lens Factsheets
An Optical Who's Who -
Optometrist,
Ophthalmic/Dispensing Optician,Ophthalmologist.
What do they all mean? How to choose a new Practitioner?
As a profession we have proved
ourselves ineffectual in educating patients not
just in the value of proper eye care, but the
merits and responsibilities of those claiming
to practice as "Opticians" .A large
amount of blame for Opticians not having gained
the same respect as Dentists, Doctors etc is the
fact we have allowed shop and even "supermarket"
style of practice. Not unnaturally this tends
to focus public attention on prices rather than
the value of eye care.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
You can legally call yourself an Optician so long
as you do not claim you are QUALIFIED!! Also,
anyone can use the term Contact Lens Centre or
Clinic to suggest they specialise. It is illegal
to fit Contact Lenses if not a registered Optician,
although even today not all Opticians have passed
an examination in contact Lens fitting, so who
do you consult and what qualifications should
you seek?
QUALIFIED PRACTITIONERS WHO
CAN LEGALLY FIT CONTACT LENSES
THE OPTOMETRIST (or OPHTHALMIC
OPTICIAN) has "A" level entrance and
University degree training and is qualified to
examine the eye for normality and carry out Sight
Testing and the fitting of Contact Lenses. If
he or she wishes to fit Contact Lenses as a specialisation
he should, although often does not take, a further
specialist Diploma examination in Contact Lens
fitting. The Optometrist's qualification to look
for are B.Sc., FCOptom. or MCOptom. as well as
D.C.L.P. (Some Optometrists of the older school
are self taught). Geoff Wilson actually qualified
to D.C.L.P. standards in his finals with an Honours
degree when the D.C.L.P. course was in it's infancy.
THE DISPENSING OPTICIAN after taking GCSE's qualifies either by postal,
or college course and when qualified can advise
on spectacle lens, low vision aids and frames
- BUT not Contact Lenses. If he wishes to fit
Contact Lenses he has to under take a further
course to gain the qualification, CL (Tech), and
after this can fit Contact Lenses in association
with an OPTOMETRIST. Some older dispensers have
not had to pass an exam.
THE OPHTHALMOLOGIST is
a medical Doctor to whom the G.P. or Optometrist
refers to in the event of there being any ocular
abnormality, disease etc. They do not usually
fit Contact Lenses. YOUR CONTACT LENS PRESCRIPTION - Measuring lenses in the practice.
If your lenses cannot be measured by an Optician
on their premises they cannot be
properly equipped to fit Contact Lenses.
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