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Optician vs contact lens fitter

The differences between opticians and contact lens fitters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a contact lens fitter has an average salary of $61,893, which is higher than the $38,412 average annual salary of an optician.

The top three skills for an optician include patients, customer service and basic math. The most important skills for a contact lens fitter are R, EMR, and .

Optician vs contact lens fitter overview

OpticianContact Lens Fitter
Yearly salary$38,412$61,893
Hourly rate$18.47$29.76
Growth rate4%4%
Number of jobs4,7173,203
Job satisfaction44
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 31%Associate Degree, 42%
Average age4444
Years of experience--

Optician vs contact lens fitter salary

Opticians and contact lens fitters have different pay scales, as shown below.

OpticianContact Lens Fitter
Average salary$38,412$61,893
Salary rangeBetween $29,000 And $50,000Between $41,000 And $93,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CA-
Highest paying stateNew York-
Best paying companyHorizon Laser Vision-
Best paying industryManufacturing-

Differences between optician and contact lens fitter education

There are a few differences between an optician and a contact lens fitter in terms of educational background:

OpticianContact Lens Fitter
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 31%Associate Degree, 42%
Most common majorBusinessBiology
Most common collegeUniversity of Minnesota - Twin CitiesDuke University

Optician vs contact lens fitter demographics

Here are the differences between opticians' and contact lens fitters' demographics:

OpticianContact Lens Fitter
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 22.2% Female, 77.8%Male, 41.7% Female, 58.3%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 9.2% White, 61.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 8.1% White, 69.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage13%13%

Differences between optician and contact lens fitter duties and responsibilities

Optician example responsibilities.

  • Manage appointments and appointment reminders, checking in/out patients, check insurance eligibility.
  • Maintain coating quality using adhesion testing and spectrophotometers, and manage coating hues and reflectance adjustments.
  • Show manual dexterity, hand eye coordination and precision to work with different types of lenses and tools.
  • Assist patients with frame selections and lenses that are best suit for their lifestyle, Rx and price needs.
  • Produce forms for the authorization of insurance benefits and eligibility for incoming patients.
  • Prepare work orders and instructions for fabricating patients prescriptions and verify Rx are finished to specifications.
  • Show more

Contact lens fitter 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.
  • Utilize schematics to troubleshoot tank electronics.

Optician vs contact lens fitter skills

Common optician skills
  • Patients, 31%
  • Customer Service, 23%
  • Basic Math, 5%
  • Patient Care, 5%
  • Math, 3%
  • Work Ethic, 3%
Common contact lens fitter skills
  • R, 53%
  • EMR, 47%

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