A contact lens optician (CLO) is a specialist practitioner who is trained and qualified to fit, and provide aftercare for, patients with contact lenses. Contact lens opticians assess whether contact lenses meet the needs of their patient, resolving clinical and tolerance issues, and remain responsible for clinical decisions enabling them to provide continuity of care to their patients.
The contact lens specialty is open to dispensing opticians (as well as optometrists and ophthalmologists) and involves extra study and clinical practice. Once the specialist training is completed and competence assessed, practitioners must register their specialty with the General Optical Council. They are then able to perform additional duties to those of a dispensing optician.
