Specs and strategy

Why I Chose to Share What I Know: Honoring the Optician’s Craft and Elevating the Whole Team

2025-05-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

For decades, opticianry was a profession passed down through apprenticeship. If you wanted to become an optician, you didn’t take a shortcut—you studied under a master, learned the science behind optics, perfected your hand skills, and built the ability to guide patients with precision and empathy. It was a craft, and it took time to master.

I was lucky to be shaped by that tradition.

But times have changed.

Today’s optical business no longer supports the apprenticeship model that once defined our field. Practices are under pressure: staff are expensive and hard to find, and the patient expectations keep rising. Meanwhile, the people supporting eye care professionals (ECPs)—from opticians and ophthalmic techs to front desk staff and optical sales teams—are being asked to perform with confidence, speed, and expertise from day one.

That’s why I chose to share what I know.

From Legacy to Leverage

The old model of learning slowly no longer fits the pace or economics of today’s practices. But the need for mastery hasn’t gone away—it’s only become more urgent. My mission is to help scale the wisdom of the apprenticeship model so it can empower entire teams: opticians, techs, receptionists, and everyone in between.

Because patients don’t differentiate between roles—they just want to feel seen, heard, and helped.

When your team is trained well, you don’t just reduce errors.

You reduce friction.

You elevate the experience.

Training Everyone Who Supports the Patient

Historically, only opticians were trained through formal apprenticeships. But today, every team member plays a role in patient care. A poorly handled benefits conversation at the front desk can cause as much frustration as a poor lens recommendation. A rushed pre-test experience can taint the entire visit, even if the exam is flawless.

Patients expect excellence across the board.

So let’s train for that—intentionally, and efficiently.

A New Era of Expectations

Modern patients are juggling more than ever. They’re conditioned by tech giants to expect everything to be fast, cheap, and easy. And thanks to online retailers, many believe they can get “the same thing” elsewhere for less.

What they don’t consider is the trade-off:

– No personalized fitting.

– No expert guidance.

– No problem-solving when something goes wrong.

Yet they still expect the same high quality—without understanding how that quality is achieved.

That’s why training matters. Because our teams are the only ones who can explain the difference between “just glasses” and vision solutions tailored to your life.

Scaling Knowledge, Building Value

By turning decades of optical knowledge into practical, modern training, I’m not just teaching skills—I’m building confidence. Helping practices train smarter. Helping teams speak with authority. Helping the industry hold the line on quality—even as the world speeds up around us.

Because when we train every team member like they matter—because they do—our patients feel it.

And when patients feel it, they stay.

That’s how we honor the past while building the future.

Is Essilor's Eyecode Ready?

2010-09-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

The optical world has been moving toward individualized/personalized/customized eyewear for the past few years. With the advent of the Izon lenses and Z-view aberrometer and, Zeiss' iScription lenses and now Essilor brings it's new pony to the party with eyecode.

Izon and Zeiss both use an aberrometer to correct higher order aberrations. The Essilor Eyecode claims to calculate the rotational axis of the eye and use this data to manufacture a lens that corrects the lens Rx throughout the entire lens surface by compensating for the change in vertex distance. Although this is novel idea, is it too early? are we too close to marrying both of these technologies to chose one above the other?

In July of 2009, Essilor applied for a manufacturing patent on how to manufacture an ophthalmic lens using photoactive material. This looks like a Essilor already has the technology to develop a lens that corrects higher order aberrations. Only time will tell.

As ECPs we all want the best acuity for our patients and it's obvious that we can achieve this by combining both of these techniques for collecting data to manufacture a better lens for our patients.

Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation

Wall Street: Cool glasses never sleep

2010-09-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the movies to watch Wall Street: Money never sleeps. In my opinion the movie fell sort of my expectations. This movies' predecessor was not as depressing. The sad reality is that WS:Mns does a good job depicting what happened almost two years ago when the run was made on Bear Stearns and JP Morgan Chase bought them up pennies on the dollar. It's as if the scene in the back room inside the Federal Reserve Bank of NY was actual video footage of what happened that Sunday night.

On a lighter note, the sunglasses worn by Michael Douglas were nothing short of sweet. I originally thought these were oliver peoples Racine but when I researched it in sunglassesid.com I found that these are Barton Perreira Halston. I have noticed the change to crystal/ transparent eyewear in the past few months. This look will definitely work for someone with a fair complexion that doesn't feel comfortable wearing the dark "horn rimmed" plastic frames that have become so popular.

To achieve the same look on a budget you can try: RayBan 2132 in Honey, part of the new wayfarer collection. The darker temples do not take too much from the look. Light amber tinted lenses with Anti-Reflective coating would polish the look off. If you're interested in taking a look at these contact me.

Some info for 3D movie goers.

2010-09-21T15:18:00.001-07:00

Hot off the press.

2010-09-21T09:07:00.001-07:00

Vlad (@opticianVlad) has shared a Tweet with you:

"opticaldaily: The Lacoste 2011 Eyewear Collection http://bit.ly/aESBHv #eyewear #lacoste"
--http://www.twitter.com/opticaldaily/status/25129031738

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