specialist opticians

[OPTIDONN]

What would you think an optician would need in order to consider them selves a specialist in a given field?


I have had to dispense and fit glasses on many children some with disabilties. I enjoy it and feel that I have become pretty good at it as well. I am now reading some books on pediatric dispensing and pediatric disorders to really understand and help most situations that I may encounter while fitting glasses for children. I am also attempting to learn all of the ASTM standards for sports eyewear as well as lens and frame materials required for sports eywear and were the frames for any given sports can be supplied from.

I hope that after a few years I would be able to consider my self an optician with a specialty in sports and pediatric eye wear. What do you think a person would need to learn and accomplish to call them selves a specialist in anything?

[OPTIDONN]

Do you think its even right to claim to be a specialist in any thing? Considering there is no standard or accepted way to prove that you are.

[Ed_Optician]

It would be nce to have a series of CE courses sponsored by various groups as in NASV for sports vision+ a school to sponsor it upon completion a certificate could be issued

Ed

[Chris Ryser]

Do you think its even right to claim to be a specialist in any thing? Considering there is no standard or accepted way to prove that you are.

When you discover and work ia special field within your profession nobody else has done before, there are no standards............because you create them and you will be accepted because you are the one that got specialised in a field that did not exist before.

Therefore you are the first..............but take my advice............let everybody know about it, because if you show some success there will be very soon be a competitor or even a corporation claiming it to be their idea and they will set the standards you developed.

[Spexvet]

Do you think its even right to claim to be a specialist in any thing? Considering there is no standard or accepted way to prove that you are.

If you are good enough at it, your customers will spread the word, and that's what makes you an expert/specialist.

[chip anderson]

Problems with specialization:

1) You limit your market. If you become a pediatric optician, adults may feel that is the limit of your capablilities and seek someone more familiar with adults.
2) The local pediatric ophthalmologist will soon think he could be making the money you are making and open his own shop. As long as it's a small business that is a lot of trouble to do, he may not see it as profitable enough to be worthy of his efforts.
3) Many people have had some success with specialized opticals but if they become really successfull they soon have competion (Walmart, Lenscrafters, etc.) then you small niche market is further divided.

Be carefull what you do.

Chip

[Chris Ryser]

3) Many people have had some success with specialized opticals but if they become really successfull they soon have competion (Walmart, Lenscrafters, etc.) then you small niche market is further divided.

This argument is valid for any type of business whatever field you are in. As soon as others see success you will have competition with the same product, service and so forth.

It's not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree. It's what you do with your life that counts."
Millard Fuller

[Ian Jordan]

having been in research for many years into a specialist field of optics (effects of visual stimulation on sensory integration) I can state that whilst many would call me an expert, I realise how little I know. I also realise how little everybody knows, but prescribing will inevitably change as a result of development.

There are some major downsides to going into new areas of expertise and you have to be of a robust personality as many people will attempt to attack you. Scepticism is commendable, but the sheer venom would astound you (the more ignorant, the more unpleasant). Academics often believe that unless papers are peer reviewed that they are not valid, commercial and patent law often make it impossible. Business competitors "rubbish" you, loose cannon are dangerous.
Be brave, challenge, an individual can change things, the rest will eventually follow if you have avalid argument, but byou will be seen to be the leader of the pack.

[optimark]

Where can I find enough info to be a specialist in sports.
Are there any courses

[chip anderson]

You might contact the center in Alabama (Birmingham, I think) and ask for a review in thier database on ocular injuries from sports and eyewear, then work from there on the safety aspect, work on the visual preceptive gimicks thereafter.

[Ian Jordan]

Sports injuries are often the result of visual perceptual problems, safety has got to include protection, eye movement, refreshment speed, pursuit and saccadal effects, jump convergence, visual fields, attentional fields, fusional effects, chromostereopsis, magnocellular and parvocellular integration and much more.
Injuries are just a small part of sports vision, optimising performance is another