Opticianry's self flagellation
We face the most serious threat to our livelihood to date, and still beating ourselves up about how to give away our valuable professional services! Gee, maybe these freeloaders won't love us anymore! Boy will they be ****** when they can't waltz in for free advice, free parts, and free services ad infinitum!!!!!!! These people are USERS, in search of something for nothing. Ask any of them if they expect to be paid for their time. Very few are ever "converted" to clients, they just know this sucker optical person they can go to for help with their bargains.
I'd like to boot the first optician who gave away our valuable professional services, establishing a tradition that will be the death of us. I've said it before, post a menu of FEE FOR SERVICE, CLEARLY STATING THAT IT DOES NOT APPLY TO GLASSES PURCHASED AT YOUR ESTABLISHMENT. Your own patients will have a new insight and respect for their purchase when they see what is included as part of the cost of their GREAT new specs. Stress need for periodic adjustments and consultation for any problems with their eyewear over time. Explain to your patients if asked, you've been inundated by people purchasing "bargain, problem eyewear" who expect you to "fix" them for free.....after all, that's what opticians do! You can still quietly do charitable pro bono for select individuals as you choose, but this wholesale insecurity has to stop or we'll never be taken seriously' :hammer::hammer::hammer:
Now you can get all the information on the web for free.................
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Heather A
FWIW...
During continuing education, someone asked a similar question, something like this...if you have taken a PD on a patient in the past, is it necessary to take it again in the future? The answer was yes, you should take the measurement everytime, because subtle changes can take place over time.
I did some checking on PD and found the simplest answer that is accessible to just about anybody in this world:
Pupillary distance
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pupillary Distance (PD) or interpupillary distance (IPD) is the distance (the industry standard is to measure in millimeters) between the centers of the pupils in each eye. This measurement is used when preparing to make prescription eyeglasses. Positioning lenses correctly in relation to the centre of the pupils is especially important for higher powered lenses due to the location of the optical centre of the lenses. It can also be relevant to binoculars: they must be adjusted to suit the user's IPD; and the minimum allowed by some binoculars is still too great for people with a small IPD.
Measuring pupillary distance
Someone with training in the field of optics can accurately measure your pupillary distance, or you can make an approximate measurement yourself using a ruler, with someone’s assistance or a mirror. The measurement will usually be taken twice: 1st with the patient focusing at a distance, and 2nd with the patient focusing at something close. The second measurement is used for reading glasses, and bifocals however the rule of thumb is that the so-called "near PD" will be 4 millimetres less than the "far PD" when the far PD is over 60mm, or 3 millimetres less than the far PD when the far PD is undre 60mm. It is recommended, due to accuracy, to measure the PD with a pupilometer, however some practitioners take preliminary measurements with a millimeter ruler placed across the bridge of the nose. You can also measure your PD using a suitable photo and an online pupilometer.
In very young children and babies, where the patient is unlikely to stay still, the optical professional will typically measure from one medial canthus to the other lateral canthus. In this case, measurements are often inaccurate by a few millimetres.
.............and lots more about the issue
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupillary_distance
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Now you can get all the information on the web for free. However you do not have the expirience to maybe do it properly.
Neither does the consumer have the expierience to properly fit the frame when it comes back from the lab.
I wonder when the first of the newest chains or franchises will pop up, called WG Service Station. (Web Glasses Servise Station) and do it all for a fee. Maybe they might even be eqiupped with samples of the frames the on liner sells and you suddenly have BM stores financed by the on liners, when they are ready to become physical and work on quantity.