Optician And Optometrist Are Not The Same

PETALING JAYA: Not many are aware about the difference between optician and optometrist, said the Association of Malaysian Optometrists.

Its president Dr Chung Kah Meng said the term “optometry” was widely used, and this has caused many people to be confused between the job scope of opticians and optometrists.

As such, he proposed that the term “optometry” should be protected under the Optical Act 1991, just like the term “optometrist”.

He said that to become an optometrist one needed to obtain a four-year degree while an optician only goes through a two-year course to get a diploma.

Dr Chung said an optometrist was qualified to examine eyes for defects or faults of refraction, and conduct tests such as measurement of visual acuity and refraction, visual field screening, and measuring intra-ocular pressure.

“We are automatically qualified to prescribe and dispense contact lenses too, while opticians have to sit for an exam conducted by the Malaysian Optical Council (MOC) before they can become contact lens practitioners,” he said.

He said a media report that said optometrists had failed the MOC exam was not accurate as only opticians had to sit for the exam.

Dr Chung said that in Britain opticians were not allowed to conduct eye tests and their role was to dispense spectacles as prescribed by the optometrists.

“But in Malaysia, there are not enough optometrists when the Optical Act 1991 was formulated, so opticians were allowed to conduct eye tests,” he said.