Optical laboratory technician vs contact lens technician

The differences between optical laboratory technicians and contact lens technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an optical laboratory technician and a contact lens technician. Additionally, an optical laboratory technician has an average salary of $32,926, which is higher than the $29,708 average annual salary of a contact lens technician.

The top three skills for an optical laboratory technician include equipment maintenance, prescription glasses and dexterity. The most important skills for a contact lens technician are patients, customer service, and appointment scheduling.

Optical laboratory technician vs contact lens technician overview

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Contact Lens Technician
Yearly salary	$32,926	$29,708
Hourly rate	$15.83	$14.28
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	40,155	7,585
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 30%	High School Diploma, 30%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	2	2

Optical laboratory technician vs contact lens technician salary

Optical laboratory technicians and contact lens technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Contact Lens Technician
Average salary	$32,926	$29,708
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $42,000	Between $18,000 And $48,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between optical laboratory technician and contact lens technician education

There are a few differences between an optical laboratory technician and a contact lens technician in terms of educational background:

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Contact Lens Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 30%	High School Diploma, 30%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Optical laboratory technician vs contact lens technician demographics

Here are the differences between optical laboratory technicians' and contact lens technicians' demographics:

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Contact Lens Technician
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 54.9% Female, 45.1%	Male, 12.9% Female, 87.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.9% Asian, 9.3% White, 56.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.5% Asian, 9.3% White, 56.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between optical laboratory technician and contact lens technician duties and responsibilities

Optical laboratory technician example responsibilities.

Manage filing, scanning & shredding important medical documents in office due to HIPAA privacy laws.
Maintain coating quality using adhesion testing and spectrophotometers, and manage coating hues and reflectance adjustments.
Perform in house testing, controls, correlations, proficiency testing, NCS, PVDT, and EKG.
Transmit orders via POS to the lab.
Perform EKGS by placement of electrodes and gathering the EKG readings.
Verify orders, answer phones, and ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations.

Contact lens technician example responsibilities.

Maintain coating quality using adhesion testing and spectrophotometers, and manage coating hues and reflectance adjustments.
Schedule appointments, insurance filing and pretest patients for exams using various instrumentation.
Greet patients and ensure accurate demographic and insurance information into their electronic chart following HiPPA compliance in a paperless practice.
Handle accounts receivable for Medicaid and Medicare processing and tracking paperwork.

Optical laboratory technician vs contact lens technician skills

Common optical laboratory technician skills

Equipment Maintenance, 59%
Prescription Glasses, 9%
Dexterity, 5%
Data Entry, 5%
Patients, 4%
Inventory Control, 3%

Common contact lens technician skills

Patients, 41%
Customer Service, 7%
Appointment Scheduling, 5%
R, 4%
Front Desk, 3%
Eye Exams, 3%

Optical Laboratory Technician vs. similar jobs

Optical Laboratory Technician related careers

Optical Laboratory Technician related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Production and Manufacturing Industry
Optical Laboratory Technician
Optical Laboratory Technician vs Contact Lens Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse production and manufacturing jobs