How do you find a good optician?

The consultation should start with a detailed case history. A good optician will want to know things like: Where will you wear your new glasses? Are you looking for an everyday pair of glasses or do you want glasses for work, driving or a special visual aid? Describe where you'll be wearing your glasses in detail. Do you have any eye diseases? And if you already own a pair of glasses: What do you like about your old glasses? What don't you like?

Don't forget: if you have the feeling that your optician is in a rush, then you've come to the wrong place. A comprehensive case history can easily take a quarter of an hour.

Even though the i.Profiler captures every detail of your eyes, an additional analysis is necessary to determine your visual acuity: subjective refraction. This term refers to the "traditional" eye measurement performed by your optician. Lenses with different prescriptions are placed in a pair of frames, and then a test is performed to check how well you see with them. You're familiar with this step if you've ever owned a pair of glasses. The optician asks questions like: "Which is clearer: the left lens or the right?" – And this continues until you are sure that you've achieved the best result. Alternatively, there is also the "phoropter". This resembles an enormous pair of glasses with interchangeable lenses featuring different prescriptions that the optician can places in front of your face. Your optician presses a button to change the lenses instead of placing these in the trial frames manually.

Keep in mind: if you aren't sure which lens is better or if you still don't have sharp, clear vision, then be honest! Tell your optician. Don't be afraid that this step might take too long. Just remember: every eye is unique, which means things can go quite quickly for one person, while someone else might need a bit more time. A good optician won't rush you, because it's their job to find the right pair of lenses with precision and care that will help you enjoy outstanding vision.

Then comes the part everyone looks forward to the most. A pair of glasses is also ultimately also a fashion statement, and given the vast variety of sizes and colours to choose from, making a decision is often difficult. A good optician not only knows which pair of frames optimally complements your facial features and your lenses and can help you narrow down the possible selections. They will also show you which pair of frames is best-suited to your vision needs. Because what most people unfortunately don't realise is that not every pair of frames is suitable for every lens. Thus the optician should provide you with plenty of information about different lens solutions, coatings and tints. A good optician also offers good, high-quality lenses. After all, they are the most important part of a pair of glasses. Depending on your particular vision needs and how you'll be using your glasses, your optician will suggest suitable options, inform you about their benefits and details and check to ensure you'll enjoy optimum vision together with your favourite frames. Sometimes an inexpensive lens is perfectly suitable, such as for a pair of reading glasses. A good optician stands apart from the rest by explaining every step of the process so that you understand their suggestion. If this isn't the case, don't hesitate and ask questions. It does not reflect well on an optician's professionalism if they don't discuss your choice of frames or sell you lenses without explaining how they are best-suited for you.  

The final step before making your purchase is to have the selected frames fitted to your face. The fitting is extremely important because no two faces are alike: everyone's nose, eyes and ears are in a different spot, and each pair of eyes has its own pupillary distance (PD). Even the visual point, i.e. the spot where you look through the lens, varies from one person to the next. All these parameters must be measured, because this is the only way for the spectacle lens manufacturer to produce a pair of perfectly individualised lenses, thereby guaranteeing you optimum vision.