Dispensing Optician
Healthcare
Design, measure, fit, and adapt lenses and frames for client according to written optical prescription or specification. Assist client with inserting, removing, and caring for contact lenses. Assist client with selecting frames. Measure customer for size of eyeglasses and coordinate frames with facial and eye measurements and optical prescription. Prepare work order for optical laboratory containing instructions for grinding and mounting lenses in frames. Verify exactness of finished lens spectacles. Adjust frame and lens position to fit client. May shape or reshape frames. Includes contact lens opticians.
You can enter this career straight after SPM. A degree is optional, not required.
What you'd do all day
The tasks that matter most in this job, most important first.
- 1Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices.
- 2Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications.
- 3Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.
- 4Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions.
- 5Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs.
- 6Maintain records of customer prescriptions, work orders, and payments.
- 7Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands.
- 8Show customers how to insert, remove, and care for their contact lenses.
- 9Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses.
- 10Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.
- 11Sell goods such as contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses, and goods related to eyes, in general.
- 12Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
- 13Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications.
- 14Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping.
- 15Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames.
- 16Instruct clients in how to wear and care for eyeglasses.
- 17Supervise the training of student opticians.
- 18Order and purchase frames and lenses.
- 19Grind lens edges, or apply coatings to lenses.
- 20Repair damaged frames.
- 21Arrange and maintain displays of optical merchandise.
Also known as
What this job is called on JobStreet, LinkedIn and in job ads. Search these too.
- LDO
- Optician
- Eyecare Advisor
- Eyeglass Fitter
- Licensed Optician
- Optical Dispenser
- Certified Optician
- Eyewear Specialist
- Optical Technician
- Contact Lens Fitter
How far is this from you?
Roughly how much preparation this job usually takes. In Malaysia your UPU route and the programme's syarat still decide entry, so treat this as a guide, not a gate.
1
Entry straight after SPM
2
SPM + sijil / short TVET course
Typical entry
Diploma / TVET (sijil–diploma)
4
Degree (ijazah sarjana muda)
5
Postgrad (sarjana / PhD) or professional route
Subjects that matter here
The SPM subjects worth your effort for this career, with the reason for each.
What you'd need to know
The subject areas this job leans on most, and the SPM subjects that build them.
- Customer and Personal Service98%
- Sales and Marketing85%
BusinessEconomics
- Mathematics78%
Additional MathematicsMathematics
- Production and Processing77%
Design & Technology (RBT)Mechanical Engineering Studies
- Administrative76%
Business
- English Language73%
English
Tools you'd use
Software and equipment that show up in this job, worth learning early.
What the work feels like
Day-to-day working conditions, so you can tell whether the job suits how you like to work.
- Face-to-face discussionsEvery day
- Contact with other peopleConstant contact
- Dealing with customers or the publicVery high
- Handling conflict situationsOften
- Indoors, air-conditionedEvery day
- Outdoors, in all weatherAlmost never
- Noisy environmentAlmost never
- Time walking or movingA little
AI and demand for this job
A few real, dated data points — not a single score. AI making some tasks faster usually means a job changes, not that it disappears.
Share of everyday tasks today's AI can already help with (2023)
This estimate is from 2023 — already out of date, since AI moves fast. Treat it as a rough, aging starting point, not the current picture.
Pay in Malaysia
We don't have a sourced Malaysian salary range for this job yet, and we'd rather show nothing than a number we can't stand behind.
Where to check:
- JobStreet and Hiredly job ads for this title
- DOSM Salaries & Wages Survey
- SSPA scheme tables, if you're aiming for a government post
Check what you may qualify for
Enter your SPM grades and see which routes and programmes you may qualify for. An estimate to plan with, not an offer.
How to get here
Post-SPM pathways with programmes in this career's fields. Tap one to see real programmes and entry requirements.
Related careers
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About this information
This describes what the job involves. Pay, demand and entry routes differ in Malaysia, so check the Pathways and Programmes pages for local requirements.
O*NET occupation: Opticians, Dispensing
Job responsibilities, knowledge areas and work context from O*NET 30.3, US Department of Labor, used under CC BY 4.0. onetcenter.org