Becoming an Optician, whether an online optician or actually in store is not really an obvious career choice. It doesn’t have the sweep-you-off-your-feet glamour of a George Clooney type Doctor, or the sympathetic aaaarh factor of a James Herriot vet. Can you think of any famous opticians?! So we asked one of our resident opticians what drives them on in their thankless task….
“I got into Optics because I had one eye patched as a child – not due to any pirate fetish but because I had a condition called Amblyopia. This is because my eye turned, and without the patch I would have lost the sight in that eye forever. When I got older and realised what the optician had done for me I looked into it as a career. I like talking to patients and finding out about their health issues and what I can do for them with either glasses lenses or contact lenses.”
Memorable Success Stories?
“I had a patient who had been bullied at school due to a condition called aniridia. This meant that her eyes were different colours, one brown and one blue. Even though this never did David Bowie any harm she’d always loathed her eyes! I fitted her with coloured contact lenses that gave her matching brown eyes. That was an emotional day for both of us! I like giving good news to patients who are worried about their sight – it’s rare to find the complications that lots of us worry about. After twenty five years in practice, testing patients all day every week day, I’ve only ever come across two brain tumours. Not good for those particular patients but everyone must be aware this is rare. I regularly refer children with the same condition that I had, and I’m always grateful that they’ll get diagnosis and treatment. I saved the sight of one chap who thought he’d got a migraine but was actually suffering retinal detachment. We whizzed him up to A & E and immediate treatment repaired the damage. I also like dealing with Keratoconus patients. They have a condition where the cornea grows into a cone shape which distorts vision. Fitting special keratoconus contact lenses can give life changing results – always a great days work!”