Duties When Dispensing Contact Lenses; Restrictions; Qualified Dispensing Optician as Engaging in Lawful Trade or Occupation

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Professions and Businesses
  4. Dispensing Opticians
  5. Duties When Dispensing Contact Lenses; Restrictions; Qualified Dispensing Optician as Engaging in Lawful Trade or Occupation

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  1. Dispensing opticians who dispense contact lenses shall instruct the wearer at the time the lenses are delivered to return to the prescribing and responsible optometrist or physician skilled in diseases of the eye for evaluation, approval, and follow-up care.
  2. A dispensing optician may duplicate lenses without prescription, provided that a dispensing optician shall not substitute contact lenses for spectacles, eyeglasses, or other optical devices except as otherwise authorized in this chapter or engage in the diagnosis of diseases of the human eye or attempt to determine the refractive powers of the human eye or in any manner attempt to prescribe remedies for or treat diseases or ailments of human beings.
  3. A dispensing optician who qualifies under this chapter shall be determined and recognized as engaging in a lawful trade or occupation in this state.

(Ga. L. 1956, p. 148, § 2; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1378, § 1.)

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Restrictions on eye care and treatment performed by physicians, optometrists, and opticians.

- Physician licensed in this state is unrestricted in the eye care and treatment afforded the physician's patients, including the fabrication and use of contact lenses, medicine, drugs, and surgery. An optometrist may employ any means, except drugs, medicine, or surgery, in the treatment of the human eye, including contact lenses. A dispensing optician may prepare and dispense optical devices upon the prescription of a physician or optometrist, or may duplicate lenses without a prescription. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-19.

Dispensing optician may not examine a patient's eyes for the purpose of determining whether or not the patient may wear contact lenses. However, the duplication of a contact lens from an original contact lens, without examination, is not prohibited. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-19.

Optician may not duplicate contact lens from spectacle lens.

- Authority vested in a dispensing optician to duplicate a lens is an exception to the general statutory scheme providing for preparation and dispensing of optical devices upon a prescription. Exceptions must be strictly construed; thus, a dispensing optician may duplicate a spectacle lens from another such lens, but may not duplicate a contact lens from a spectacle lens. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-19.


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