Monday, 18 October 2010

Salaries for Opticians
Topic: Optical

Recently the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported generated the following data about opticians.

Employment Estimate and Mean Wage Estimates

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
60,840	2.2 %	$16.73	$34,790	0.9 %

Percentile Wage Estimates

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$10.16	$12.54	$15.74	$20.03	$24.31
Annual Wage (2)	$21,120	$26,070	$32,740	$41,660	$50,560

Top Paying States

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment per thousand workers
Connecticut	460	$25.09	$52,180	0.282
Massachusetts	1,550	$23.89	$49,690	0.490
New Jersey	1,350	$23.62	$49,130	0.350
Virginia	1,880	$22.37	$46,540	0.524
New York	2,920	$22.09	$45,940	0.343

Top Paying Metropolitan Areas

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment per thousand workers
Nassau-Suffolk, NY Metropolitan Division	390	$29.05	$60,420	0.316
Lynchburg, VA	60	$28.03	$58,300	0.557
Punta Gorda, FL	50	$27.99	$58,210	1.177
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA NECTA Division	750	$27.89	$58,010	0.445
New Haven, CT	140	$27.04	$56,240	0.517

The Bureau defines opticians as follows: "Design, measure, fit, and adapt lenses and frames for client according to written optical prescription or specification. 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. Include contact lens opticians."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 7:12 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, 22 October 2010 10:19 AM EDT
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Marketing Coup for Oakley
Topic: Sunglasses
The Financial Post reports that "in deciding to donate the US$180 sunglasses to protect the delicate eyes of emerging miners who were trapped underground for 69 days, the athletic eyewear outfitter [Oakley] has scored a branding coup worth an estimated US$41-million in exposure, according to research firm Front Row Analytics."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:56 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 21 October 2010 7:09 AM EDT
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Sunday, 17 October 2010

More Children Getting CLs
Topic: Contact Lenses
"More than half of optometrists introduce soft contact lenses to children between the ages of 10 and 12 years, according to a press release from the American Optometric Association, reports OSNSuperSite. "Of the 576 optometrists who participated in the Children & Contact Lenses study, 71% said they prescribe contact lenses to children 10 to 12 years old as a secondary method of vision correction. Daily disposable lenses are the most frequently prescribed contacts for this age group. In addition, 21% of respondents said they are more likely to fit children in this age group with lenses than they were a year ago." You can also click this link for more.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 8:13 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 19 October 2010 6:51 AM EDT
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Ciba Vision in UK Recalling CLs
Topic: Contact Lenses
"Ciba Vision is recalling lots of its Softperm contact lenses over safety fears, it has been revealed," reports ContactLenses.Co.UK. "The contact lens manufacturer announced that, following concerns that the product is not sterile and could cause eye infections, it is recalling certain batches while an investigation takes place. According to the company, any lots supplied after March 13th last year may be affected and retailers and consumers have been advised to return them to the firm."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 8:09 AM EDT
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Friday, 15 October 2010

New Health Care Affecting Everyone
Topic: Insurance

Every American will feel the impact of the changes in the health care laws. For example, the Heritage Foundation claims that "the outlook for seniors’ Medicare Advantage (MA) plans is grim under the new health care law. Though seniors’ premiums will drop 1 percent in the new year, this will be the exception to the rule over the next decade."

Then a post on NYTimes notes "the biggest changes arrive this year courtesy of the new health care law. The new rules require employers to extend health insurance coverage to uninsured dependents up to age 26, eliminate any lifetime caps on coverage, and pay 100 percent of the cost of annual physicals and some other preventive care. Plans that don’t significantly change their cost and coverage structures will be exempt from the preventive care requirements. But for the most part, rising health costs will force employers to alter their plans, if only to shift more of the burden to employees. The new requirements and complicated new options will make selecting the right insurance plan perhaps more daunting than ever."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 8:43 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, 15 October 2010 8:52 PM EDT
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Faced with Competition, Canadian Opticians Rebrand
Topic: Optical
"Canada's opticians, squeezed between their professional rivals — optometrists — and non-professional fly-by-night and online dispensaries are setting out to carve a larger niche in the vision-care business," reports CBC News. "The Opticians Council of Canada launched a national public awareness campaign Friday, which includes television ads and a website aimed at steering consumers to licensed opticians. 'We're calling ourselves "vision architects,"' explained [Janice] Schmidt, a former chair of the OCC and co-ordinator of the optician program at Georgian College in Barrie, Ont. 'We're the ones that will design the eyewear, design the lens that is going to go into the frame.'" Should American opticians do the same?

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 8:40 PM EDT
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Thursday, 14 October 2010

IRC Provides Eyecare to the World's Refugees
Topic: Eye Care
"Since 1997, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has helped hundreds of thousands of visually impaired refugees and other victims of war restore their vision through a unique program that offers free glasses and access to eye surgery. The IRC’s Peter Biro reports from northwestern Thailand, where the IRC recently distributed its 100,000th pair of eyeglasses," reports the IRC website.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 7:11 AM EDT
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Chilean Miners Come Out Wearing Oakleys
Topic: Sunglasses
"The emergence of the last miner from 69 days from beneath the Atacama Desert in Chile came after a 24-hour vigil by people glued to televisions and computer monitors around the world," wrote CNN. Each miner was wearing a pair of Oakley sunglasses. CNN continued: "As Oakley says on their website: The rescue team in Chile is relying on Oakley eyewear to protect the miners’ eyes when they are brought back to the surface. A few weeks ago, Oakley was approached by a Chilean journalist who was covering the rescue efforts and had recommended Oakley to the Chilean private health insurer, known as ACHS 'Association Chilena de Seguridad,' for eyewear protection for the miners once they surfaced."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 7:06 AM EDT
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Reminder Warning about Decorative CLs
Topic: Contact Lenses
Every year, the approach of Halloween heightens fears at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that consumers will harm their eyes with unapproved decorative contact lenses. "Although unauthorized use of decorative contact lenses is a concern year-round, Halloween is the time when people may be inclined to use them, perhaps as costume accessories," says James Saviola, the Ophthalmic and Ear, Nose and Throat Devices network leader in FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. You might want to remind your patients with a poster, flyer, or email message. You can create one with the PDF from the FDA at this site.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:56 AM EDT
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Wednesday, 13 October 2010

Giving Back as World Sight Day Approaches -- Tomorrow
Topic: Eye Care
World Sight Day is tomorrow, but each day eye care providers around the world are helping individuals. Here are a few examples:

The GattonStar reports that "optometrist Anita Salter of Eyecare Plus Gatton, is taking the World Sight Day Challenge....On World Sight Day, ... Anita will donate her eye exam fees to help provide eye exams and glasses to children who can't see to learn at school and adults who can't see to provide for their families.
"It takes a lot of work for Monique Pilkington to sort out the logistics of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Medical Mobile Eye Care Clinic’s yearly tour of northern Ontario," notes NorthernLife.ca. Pilkington must ... "ensure two nurses are trained to drive the transport truck containing a mini-ophthalmologist’s office, recruit ophthalmologists to work in the eye van and co-ordinate with local Lions Club members, who act as hosts in the various communities the program visits. ...The eye van serves about 5,000 people each year in 30 communities, providing vision screening, treatment of eye conditions and minor surgery."
Optometry Giving Sight, the organizer of the World Sight Day Challenge, funds programs that train local eye care professionals and develop vision centers which provide permanent vision care to people in desperate need. That need increases annually.
"The world is suffering a global eye care crisis according to world leaders in vision health and development who attended the World Congress on Refractive Error in Durban, South Africa." The KansisCityStar posted the following: "A staggering 670 million are avoidably blind or vision impaired because they don't have simple vision correction (spectacles) that could be provided at a relatively low cost, reports leading advocate, Professor Brien Holden, CEO of the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE). 'The cost of not providing eye care services to those in need is well in excess of approximately $US269 billion per annum, just in lost productivity. The sad part is, the numbers affected by uncorrected vision problems will only rise if we don't recognise it and take action,' he told the congress."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 5:14 AM EDT
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Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Nike Giveaway for Eye Care
Topic: Eye Care
Do you sell Nike eyewear? If yes, think of referring your customers to SeeMuchMore.com maintained by VSP Vision Care and Nike, according to a posting on ThatsFit. "The folks at VSP Vision Care, who specialize in personalized eye care programs for millions of people in the U.S., want to bring attention to the importance of keeping an eye on your vision, and to do so, they've teamed up with That's Fit to give away a $250 Nike gift card to be used toward protective eyewear or the Nike product(s) of the winner's choice! The gift card can be redeemed both in Nike stores and online."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:28 AM EDT
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Monday, 11 October 2010

Ahoy! Honoring World Sight Day, Oct. 14
Topic: Eye Care
World Sight Day on October 14 will focus on eye health and equal access to care. Mercy Ships uses its state-of-the-art hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, to deliver world-class health care to some of the poorest countries in the world. Their services include Mercy Vision, an eye care program that includes land-based eye clinics as well as eye surgeries done onboard the ship.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 7:00 AM EDT
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Eye Care Turning to Social Networks on Web
Topic: Optical
Check this out from the BaltimoreSun: "Monica Dillon wasn't happy with her eye care provider, so when she saw an online deal for an exam and glasses for $50, she clicked on it...'The timing was right so I jumped on it,' she said about her purchase via Groupon, a deal-of-the-day e-mail sent to tens of thousands of people in the Baltimore region and millions nationwide....'This worked out; they found a problem with my prescription.'Katzen Eye Group, the company behind the deal, is among the growing number of health care providers testing the latest in social media.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:54 AM EDT
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Sunday, 10 October 2010

Peek of the US Optical Market
Topic: Optical
Research and Markets (recently released its U.S. "Optometrists and Opticians" report. It notes that "the retail optical industry in the US includes about 13,000 optician stores with combined annual revenue of $8 billion, and 20,000 offices of optometrists with combined annual revenue of $11 billion. Large opticians include Luxottica Retail (LensCrafters and Pearle Vision), Eye Care Centers of America, and US Vision. The optician segment of the industry is concentrated: the 50 largest chains hold about 60 percent of the market. The optometrist segment is highly fragmented."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 8:03 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 12 October 2010 6:48 AM EDT
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People Put Off Eye Care
Topic: Eye Care
Optometry Today reports that more than "20% of Britons have put off or cancelled an appointment with the optometrist due to concerns about cost, and a further 16% have delayed getting eyewear when a new prescription has been required, a survey has shown. The study, commissioned by health insurance providers Health365.com, surveyed 1,000 employed adults in the UK about the cost of healthcare. Almost half of those questioned (43%) thought eye tests were free for all and, more generally, 77% of those quizzed said they were concerned about the price of healthcare."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 7:14 AM EDT
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Saturday, 9 October 2010

Acuvue 'Facebooks' Teen Patients
Topic: Contact Lenses

Contact lens company Acuvue's results from its email campaign aimed at teenagers lagged in the past few years. It turned to Facebook. Initially the company could not get the results it needed, but "since January, ...[the] contact lenses brand's Facebook 'likers' have jumped from about 10,000 to 41,000." The figures jumped because the company converted its teen e-mail subscribers to its page on the social site, according to a post on ClickZ.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 8:21 AM EDT
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Younger & Transitions Seminar
Topic: Continuing Education
Transitions Optical and Younger Optics are running two new seminars for eye care professionals in 12 cities during October and November. Attendees will receive two ABO education credits, as well as professional vouchers to try Transitions XTRActive and NuPolar Trilogy lenses for free. At each event, ECPs will be given a chance to win a popular prize, such as an Amazon Kindle, no purchase necessary. The first seminar, called Eyewear Essentials: More Choices, will provide information on patient expectations and emerging trends. The second seminar, "Make Sunwear Important with a New to the World Sunlens: NuPolar® Trilogy® – Visual Armor," will introduce a new lens product and learn how to make sunwear a more important part of their business. For more information, call 1-800-848-1506, extension 3,www.transitions.com/eyewearessentials. or register online at

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 7:56 AM EDT
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Friday, 8 October 2010

Time Is Running Out. Register for OpticalCEUs Fall Conference
Topic: Continuing Education

Opticians from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island are reserving seats for OpticalCEU's Fall 2010 Conference at the MGM Grand Conference Center, Foxwoods Resort and Casino on Sunday,October 24. (Click to register online; click for directions). If you have not registered, we strongly advise that you do. During the past six conferences, we have sold out and have not been able to accept last minute reservations. You can register online or call 203-366-5991 (leave a message).

Contrary to rumor and speculation, Connecticut's Department of Health, by legislative mandate, requires all licensed opticians to take seven hours of in-person continuing education in order to maintain their licenses. Without that seven hours, a licensed optician is in violation of state law. Just last year, the state of Massachusetts audited all licensed opticians, ensuring that they were all up-to-date with their credits. Massachusetts has a similar law as does Connecticut.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:18 AM EDT
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FYI: You Work in a $31.7 Billion Industry
Topic: Optical
"A study in the early 1970s showed that 25 percent of the U.S. population ages 12 to 54 suffered from nearsightedness, or myopia, which means they have trouble seeing things at a distance. A more recent study, from 1999 to 2004, showed the rate had soared to 41.6 percent. Americans spend $31.7 billion annually on vision products and services, according to the Vision Council of America. Eyeglass frames and lenses make up the largest portion, about $21 billion," according to a post on ChicagoTribune.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:07 AM EDT
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Reminder about Changes in Flex Accounts
Topic: Insurance
"Starting Jan. 1, employees will no longer be able to use their health care spending accounts to pay for over-the-counter drugs and medicines without a doctor's prescription, although they will be able to use them for many other drugstore items, such as bandages and contact lens solutions, without a prescription.Also, the law will let many parents use their accounts to pay for medical expenses incurred on behalf of a child through the end of the year in which the child turns 26," according to a great story posted on the website for the San Francisco Chronicle. Therefore, most of the products and services of the eyecare industry will be covered under the new regulations for FSA accounts.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:02 AM EDT
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