It's time for Opticians to get real, hands-on-the-patient training
in order to re-humanize the dispensing of ophthalmic eyewear.

POINTS TO PONDER

"What do dentists, manicurists, hairstylists and
opticians all have in common? They have to make direct,
tactile contact with consumers while dispensing services."

"When Opticians do not touch the consumer at the time
they dispense their eyewear, they're acting more as
unskilled eyeglass merchants than as an Opticians."

"Opticians must exercise multi-dimensional opticianry,
i.e., full Discovery, masterful Design, and touch
and feel Delivery of prescription eyewear."

"Opticians are vision experts who serve Patients with
comprehensive vision solutions as opposed to eyeglass
merchants who just sell Customers glasses and contact lenses."

"What are the chances of today's eyewear consumers getting a
hands-on, customized fitting of their prescription eyewear? If you
answered this question correctly, you know why they buy online."

"The manager of a nationwide retail optical dispensary
advised a staff member who attempted to customize a
frame as seen here that they would be fired if they tried to
fit another 'customer' with such an ugly looking adjustment."

"After many years of failing to provide the public with
hands-on-the-patient frame-fitting services, dispensers
have suddenly discovered that consumers are flocking
to the Internet* for their eyewear, where likewise, they
are unable to acquire customized frame-fitting services.
Refusing to admit culpability, these same retailers now
blame cheap online prices and unethical practices for the
erosion of market share and the steep decline of revenues."
*(See AARP's 'Your Money,' December, 2011, as example.)

"More and more eyewear is being purchased online.
The number one complaint of brick-and-mortar patrons ...
'Nobody adjusted my glasses. They just handed them to me.'
So, for these consumers there's little difference between the service
they receive in many of today's dispensaries and buying glasses online."

"Hand crafted multi-dimensional adjustments, including tactile, hands-on,
'touch and feel' procedures such as reshaping the temple ends to make direct
and full, caressing-without-pressing contact with the mastoid area behind the ears,
while simultaneously avoiding direct contact with the pressure-sensitive ears, is one
of the single most important considerations for long-term comfort and wear-ability."

"It is time for direct, touch-and-feel, hands-on-the-patient-training to happen.
This is done by one-on-one craftsmanship training. It cannot be learned virtually."

*Optical Workshops is a Flordia Board of Opticianry Provider, #50-13776.
Contact us here, or call 407-628-4443 to arrange for a workshop training session.

INTRODUCTION

The Intermediate Level Workshop is for those apprentice level and-or more recently licensed Opticians who wish to either learn new techniques or otherwise improve their current skills, and will fulfill 2 hours of continuing education requirements. (Also see Advanced Workshop.) This Workshop has been accredited by ABO, the American Board of Opticianry and approved by the Florida Board of Opticianry. This Workshop meets all accreditation requirements by providing the attendees a) Instructional and practical experience in the visual-tactile assessment of eyewear ALIGNMENT for the purpose of correcting the most obvious misalignments of the Patient's eyewear, while in-place, and on-the-face, b) The Final Fitting, i.e., the practical, tactile application of much more SUBTLE ADJUSTMENTS using 'touch and feel' techniques and more artfully handcrafted frame fitting skills in order to maximize the Patient's visual comfort and long-term wear-ability.

This last and most important topic, Final Fitting, is addressed with special emphasis on the necessity for the qualitative dispensing of eyewear using 1) Visual-tactile, hands-on, in-place, on-the-face assessment, and 2) Highly evolved handcrafted, 'touch and feel' techniques of frame fitting. See the following example. (Also see Custom Frame Fitting, Up Close and Personal.)

Old Fashioned Hands-on Craftsmanship

THE NO TOUCH - NO HOLD PRINCIPLE
Temple-ends cannot hold an eyeglass frame
in-place comfortably if they do not touch the skull.

Every Patient deserves a sufficiently handcrafted,
multi-dimensional, personalized frame fitting, e.g.,
gaps and spaces are removed from between the frame's
temples and the skull behind the ears, in order to enhance
comfort, stability, and long-term wear-ability. Full contact, with
a light touch of the skull, NOT THE EARS, is the primary means
by which the frame should be held in place for long-term comfort.

    

'Before' temple-end is in out-of-the-box condition.
As such, it makes little contact with this Patient's skull,
whereas the 'After' temple-end has been customized
with a hand-crafted mastoid dip and mastoid wrap added.
It now fits the mastoid bone like a glove since it has been
shaped to make full, direct contact with this Patient's skull.
The customized temple-ends become invisible when worn
by the Patient and the resultant fit is extremely comfortable.

OBJECTIVES

"Successful dispensing requires the careful and thoughtful
process of Discovery, Design, and Delivery of eyewear
without bias concerning sales quotas, profit margin or
other subjective and unrelated considerations."

Although the Full Discovery and Disclosure Interview, and Frame Fitting Techniques are not the only aspects of what is called Ophthalmic Dispensing, today they are much underrated, even subordinated skills. The Frame Fitting skill set, which can be acquired only through direct, practical experience, must include a) Visual and tactile, 'touch and feel,' hands-on assessment of the eyewear in-place, on-the-face, b) Basic Frame Alignment, i.e., correcting the most obvious misalignments, and c)The application of more Subtle Frame-Temple Adjustments, i.e., the personalized, handcrafted multi-dimensional adaptations such as reshaping the temple-ends relative to the skull-mastoid complex, and then 90 degrees relative to the ears, are the most important considerations for long-term visual comfort and eyewear-ability. Not only is a poorly fitted frame likely to cause discomfort and inconvenience to the Patient, but in cases of higher lens powers and high astigmatic corrections it can even adversely effect the prescription, thus creating additional visual problems. See example.

Upon completion of this workshop the Eye Care Professional will:

WORKSHOP PROTOCOL AND REQUIRED MATERIALS

PROTOCOL: Each attendee will assume an alternating role as 'Dispenser' and 'Patient' in order to acquire a direct 'touch and feel' experience, and a more comprehensive perspective of handcrafted frame fitting. All work will be critiqued by an experienced and licensed, 'Hands-on-The-Patient Trained' Optician.

Attendees will be challenged to overcome their timidity with regard to directly observing and assessing eyewear while on the Patient, and the use of tactile methods by which to determine the appropriate adjustments to be made to eyewear using their hands as well as hand tools in order to accomplish the following.

a) The more obvious and basic visual and tactile eyewear assessments required to square the x, y, z planes; the application of pantoscopic tilt, facial wrap, and temple-to-skull fitting adjustments.

b) The subtlest of adjustments involving more sophisticated aspects of frame fitting, i.e., mastoid dip and mastoid wrap, of the frame temples.

MATERIALS: Two types of frame warmers, hot air and convection, a small number of zyl and metal frames, hand tools and instruments are to be provided in order to demonstrate and practice the techniques. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own hand tools for reasons of familiarity. See also Advanced Level Workshop. --

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