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

"Service is an intrinsic value, not a value added."

"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."

"In the true practice of Opticianry, as with any other form
of art-craft, an eye for symmetry develops over time."

"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."

"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."

Note: 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 Advanced Level Workshop is for experienced Opticians who wish to either learn new techniques or improve their current skills, and will fulfill 2 hours of continuing education requirements. (See Intermediate Level.) 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 a) Advanced and practical training in the all important 'Full Discovery and Disclosure' Lifestyle Interview, including Trial Lens and Frame use for the purpose of demonstrating lens design variables to the Patient, especially first-time wearers, b) A practical review of eyewear ALIGNMENT to include a visual-tactile assessment of the most obvious misalignments of the Patient's frame and lenses, while in-place, and on-the-face, and c) The practical application of much more subtle ADJUSTMENTS using 'touch and feel' techniques in order to address the more challenging aspects of the Patient's frame fitting issues in order to maximize their visual comfort and long-term wear-ability. See following example.

Old Fashioned Hands-on Craftsmanship

NO TOUCH - NO HOLD
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. Dynamic lens design using Trial Frame and Lenses, and frame fitting skills, which can be acquired only through direct, practical experience, must include: a) Visual as well as tactile, 'touch and feel,' hands-on assessment of the eyewear in-place , on-the-face, b) Frame Alignment, i.e., correcting the most obvious misalignments, and c) Frame Temple-To-Skull Adjustments, i.e., personalized, handcrafted multi-dimensional adaptations such as reshaping the temple-ends relative to the skull-mastoid, and then, 90 degrees relative to the ears, is one of the most important considerations for comfort and long term wear. 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 course the Eye Care Professional will:

Be more familiar with Trial Frame and Lens use for the purpose of demonstrating lens design variables to the Patient.

Be more familiar with the basic parts of the ophthalmic frame and its measurement criteria.

Appreciate the various frame styles, nose piece-bridge designs, and types of temples currently available.

Appreciate the importance of providing the Patient with unbiased assistance as to price in their selection of the proper frame size and style, and lens design.

Be more familiar with proper frame selection using the shape of the face and head, placement of the eyes and ears, and the nature of the prescription as criteria, with emphasis on the adverse consequences of a poorly designed and-or fitted frame.

Appreciate the qualitative aspects of dispensing corrective eyewear using tactile, hands-on, in-place, on-the-face visual-tactile, eyewear assessment and touch and feel, frame fitting techniques.

Be more familiar with the tools and conditions that are necessary for the application of hands-on frame fitting skills, i.e., proper placement of tools and instruments, dispensing table design, etc.

Observe and experience hands-on, in-place, on-the-face, touch and feel frame fitting techniques whereby comfort, prescription integrity, and frame wear-ability are achieved and-or sustained.

Experience and appreciate the difference between Basic Frame Alignment and the More Subtle Frame Adjustments.

Be better able to serve Patients with handcrafted, personalized, custom fitted eyewear and frame adjustments. See example.

Experience and appreciate the distinction between an Eye Care Professional's custom fitting of corrective eyewear directly on a Patient versus an unskilled Merchant casually delivering one-size-fits-all merchandise to a Customer.

WORKSHOP MATERIALS

This Advanced Workshop will tactilely explore a) Advanced visual-tactile assessment in frame and lens design using Trial Frame and Lenses, and advanced hands-on frame fitting alignment techniques, i.e., x, y, z planes, pantoscopic tilt, facial wrap, frame temple-to-skull fitting, etc., as well as b) The subtlest of adjustments involving more highly evolved aspects of frame fitting, i.e., mastoid dip and wrap, which attendees may never have experienced nor had the opportunity of seeing demonstrated, first hand. Two types of frame warmers, air and sand, and a small number of frames, hand tools, and Trial Frame and Lenses will be provided in order to demonstrate these techniques. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own hand tools for reasons of familiarity. Each participant 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. See Intermediate Level Workshop. --

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