21 Laws, Standards & Practice Practice Questions & Answers

1. 1. A walk-in customer buys a pair of nonprescription tinted sunglasses off the display rack, and another customer picks up a finished single-vision prescription pair. Under the federal impact-resistance requirement for spectacle lenses enforced by the FDA, which statement correctly describes the scope of that requirement?

   • A.Only the prescription pair must be impact resistant; nonprescription sunglasses fall outside the rule.
   • B.The requirement covers every lens worn on or in front of the eye, including contact lenses.
   • C.Both pairs must be made with impact-resistant lenses, because the requirement covers prescription and nonprescription spectacle lenses alike.✓ Answer
   • D.Only lenses dispensed to children must be impact resistant.

   The FDA rule was written to prevent lens fragments from entering the eye on impact, so it applies to all spectacle and sunglass lenses whether or not they carry a prescription; contact lenses sit on the eye and are regulated as medical devices under other provisions, not under this spectacle-lens rule.

   Source: 21 CFR 801.410, FDA impact-resistant spectacle lens requirementReport a problem with this question

2. 2. A patient insists on a lens material that is not impact resistant and offers to sign a waiver releasing the optical from responsibility. Under the federal impact-resistance regulation, who may authorize dispensing spectacle lenses that are not impact resistant?

   • A.A certified optician, provided the patient's refusal is documented in the record.
   • B.The laboratory manager who surfaces and finishes the job.
   • C.The prescribing physician or optometrist, who must find that impact-resistant lenses will not fulfill the patient's visual requirements, direct the other lenses in writing, and give the patient written notification.✓ Answer
   • D.The patient, by signing a waiver at the dispensary.

   The regulation places the exemption entirely with the prescriber and requires three things together: a professional finding that impact-resistant lenses will not meet the patient's visual needs, a written direction for the other lenses, and written notice to the patient; a patient signature cannot create the exemption, because a waiver documents informed refusal but does not transfer the legal duty.

   Source: 21 CFR 801.410, FDA impact-resistant spectacle lens requirementReport a problem with this question

3. 3. A laboratory finishes both glass and plastic prescription lenses. Under the federal impact-resistance regulation, how does the required testing differ between these two groups?

   • A.Each finished glass prescription lens must be impact tested individually, while plastic lenses may be shown to comply by testing a statistically significant sample drawn from each production batch.✓ Answer
   • B.Neither requires testing; a supplier's certificate of compliance satisfies the rule for both.
   • C.Every plastic lens is tested individually, while glass lenses are checked by batch sampling.
   • D.Both glass and plastic finished lenses must be impact tested one by one.

   The referee test drops a steel ball from a specified height onto the front surface of the lens, and because glass is far more likely to fracture, the regulation requires every finished glass prescription lens to be tested individually while allowing statistically valid batch sampling for other lenses such as plastic and laminated glass.

   Source: 21 CFR 801.410, FDA impact-resistant spectacle lens requirementReport a problem with this question

4. 4. An FDA investigator visits a laboratory that fabricates prescription spectacle lenses and asks about impact resistance. Which records does the federal regulation require the lens manufacturer to keep and make available?

   • A.Nothing in writing; a verbal assurance that the lenses are impact resistant satisfies the rule.
   • B.Only the invoices for the lens blanks that were purchased.
   • C.Only the signed patient waivers held on file at the dispensary.
   • D.Test results together with a description of the test method and the apparatus used, plus records of sale or distribution, all available to the FDA for inspection and copying.✓ Answer

   Compliance with the impact-resistance requirement has to be demonstrable after the fact, so the regulation makes recordkeeping part of the obligation: the manufacturer must retain the test results, a description of how and with what the testing was done, and distribution records, and must let the FDA inspect and copy them.

   Source: 21 CFR 801.410, FDA impact-resistant spectacle lens requirementReport a problem with this question

5. 5. A patient finishes a refractive eye examination and mentions that she plans to buy her glasses from an online retailer. Under the federal regulation governing release of the spectacle prescription, what must the prescriber do?

   • A.Charge a prescription-release fee, since she is buying the eyewear elsewhere.
   • B.Give a copy only if she submits a written request.
   • C.Give a copy only after she declines to purchase eyewear at the office.
   • D.Give her a copy of the prescription automatically at the completion of the refractive examination, at no extra charge, whether or not she asks for it.✓ Answer

   The rule exists to let patients shop wherever they choose, so release is automatic rather than on request: the prescription copy must be handed over once the refractive examination is complete and before any offer to sell eyewear, and no separate fee may be charged for it.

   Source: FTC Eyeglass Rule, 16 CFR Part 456Report a problem with this question

6. 6. An optical manager tells staff to release a spectacle prescription only after the patient either buys a pair in-house or signs a form waiving the office's liability for the accuracy of eyewear bought elsewhere. How does the federal prescription-release regulation treat this policy?

   • A.The waiver portion is permitted, and only the purchase condition is prohibited.
   • B.The regulation prohibits both conditioning release of the prescription on the purchase of eyewear and requiring the patient to sign or accept any waiver or disclaimer of liability as a condition of receiving it.✓ Answer
   • C.It violates the rule only with respect to contact lens prescriptions.
   • D.It is acceptable, because release may be conditioned on a purchase as long as the patient is told in advance.

   Both practices defeat the purpose of the rule, which is free competition in the sale of eyewear, so the regulation names them separately as unfair practices: the examination may not be conditioned on a purchase, and no waiver or disclaimer of liability for the accuracy of the examination or the dispensing may be placed on the prescription, signed by the patient, or delivered with it.

   Source: FTC Eyeglass Rule, 16 CFR Part 456Report a problem with this question

7. 7. A patient asks the optician why the pupillary distance is not printed on the spectacle prescription he was handed after his examination. Which response is accurate?

   • A.Pupillary distance may never be disclosed to a patient because it is proprietary to the dispensary.
   • B.The federal prescription-release regulation does not require pupillary distance to appear on the prescription; it is a fitting measurement, and office policy or state requirements determine whether it is supplied.✓ Answer
   • C.Pupillary distance is required on the prescription only when progressive lenses are prescribed.
   • D.The federal rule requires pupillary distance on every spectacle prescription, so the office made an error.

   The federal rule defines the prescription as the lens specifications plus whatever state law requires, and pupillary distance was deliberately not added to that federal list because it is a measurement taken during fitting rather than during refraction; whether it is written down is therefore governed by state requirements and office practice.

   Source: FTC Eyeglass Rule, 16 CFR Part 456Report a problem with this question

8. 8. A patient presents a spectacle prescription written two years ago and asks to have it filled today. Which statement about spectacle prescription expiration is correct?

   • A.There is no federal expiration period for spectacle prescriptions; the prescriber's stated expiration and state law control, so the dispensary must follow its own state's requirement.✓ Answer
   • B.Spectacle prescriptions never expire anywhere in the United States.
   • C.Federal regulation sets a two-year expiration for spectacle prescriptions nationwide.
   • D.Federal regulation sets a one-year expiration for spectacle prescriptions nationwide.

   The federal minimum expiration period belongs to the contact lens rule, not the spectacle rule, so for eyeglasses the validity period comes from state law and from whatever expiration the prescriber wrote, and an optician who dispenses on a stale prescription answers to the state board rather than to a federal timetable.

   Source: FTC Eyeglass Rule, 16 CFR Part 456; state optical practice actsReport a problem with this question

9. 9. An established soft contact lens wearer completes a follow-up visit at which the prescriber determines that the current lenses fit well and no change is needed. Under the federal contact lens regulation, when must the patient receive a copy of the contact lens prescription?

   • A.Only after she has purchased at least one supply of lenses from the office.
   • B.Only when she states an intention to order from another seller.
   • C.Only if she submits a written request for it.
   • D.At the completion of the fitting, automatically, whether or not she asks for it.✓ Answer

   The contact lens rule mirrors the eyeglass rule in making release automatic, and for an established wearer the fitting is treated as complete at the point the prescriber decides no change is needed, so the copy is due at that visit without any request from the patient.

   Source: FTC Contact Lens Rule, 16 CFR Part 315 (Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act)Report a problem with this question

10. 10. A patient brings in a current spectacle prescription and asks the optical to use it to order soft contact lenses in the same powers. What is the correct response?

    • A.Order the lenses using the spectacle powers, since the refraction is the same either way.
    • B.The two documents are interchangeable as long as the powers are low.
    • C.A contact lens prescription is a separate document that can come only from a completed contact lens fitting and contains parameters a spectacle prescription does not, such as base curve, diameter, and the lens material or manufacturer, so contact lenses may not be ordered from a spectacle prescription.✓ Answer
    • D.The optician may compensate the spectacle powers for vertex distance and then dispense the contact lenses.

    A contact lens sits on the cornea and is a medical device fitted to the eye's curvature, so its prescription names parameters that a refraction alone cannot supply and is valid only after a fitting is completed; converting spectacle powers is a calculation an optician can perform, but it does not create a lawful contact lens prescription.

    Source: FTC Contact Lens Rule, 16 CFR Part 315 (Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act)Report a problem with this question

11. 11. A contact lens seller cannot obtain the lens named on a valid prescription and ships a comparable lens from a different manufacturer instead. Under the federal contact lens regulation, is this permissible?

    • A.Yes, provided the substituted lens has the same power.
    • B.Yes, if the patient agrees by telephone.
    • C.No; a seller may not alter a contact lens prescription, and substituting a different manufacturer's lens is an alteration, so only what the prescriber specified may be supplied, apart from the narrow allowance for identical private-label lenses from the same manufacturer.✓ Answer
    • D.No, unless the prescriber fails to answer a verification request, which then permits substitution.

    Contact lenses differ in material, water content, oxygen transmission and edge design even at identical powers, so the rule forbids a seller from changing anything the prescriber wrote; the only carve-out is an identical private-label lens made by the same manufacturer, and an unanswered verification never authorizes a substitution.

    Source: FTC Contact Lens Rule, 16 CFR Part 315 (Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act)Report a problem with this question

12. 12. A contact lens seller sends the prescriber a complete verification request for a patient's order and receives no answer of any kind within the period the federal contact lens regulation allows. What may the seller then do?

    • A.The seller may fill the order and also extend the expiration date by one year.
    • B.The prescription is treated as verified by the prescriber's lack of response, and the seller may fill the order exactly as written.✓ Answer
    • C.The seller must cancel the order, because silence means the prescription is invalid.
    • D.The seller must obtain a replacement prescription from a different prescriber.

    The rule uses passive verification so that a prescriber cannot block a competing sale simply by ignoring the request: once the allowed period passes with no direct communication, the prescription is deemed verified, but the seller may still fill only what was written and may not alter or extend it.

    Source: FTC Contact Lens Rule, 16 CFR Part 315 (Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act)Report a problem with this question

13. 13. A long-time contact lens wearer telephones to reorder her usual lenses, but the prescription on file expired last month and she says she has not had time for a re-examination. What must the dispensary do?

    • A.Dispense a courtesy supply while she arranges an examination.
    • B.Fill the order, because her powers have not changed in several years.
    • C.Decline the order, because an expired prescription is no longer valid; lenses may be dispensed only after she is seen and a current prescription is issued and verified.✓ Answer
    • D.Extend the prescription by thirty days on the optician's own authority.

    An expiration date exists because contact lens wear must be re-evaluated for corneal health, not merely for power, so an expired prescription cannot be verified as valid and no one in the dispensary has authority to extend it; the correct handling is to refuse the sale and route the patient back to the prescriber.

    Source: FTC Contact Lens Rule, 16 CFR Part 315 (Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act)Report a problem with this question

14. 14. An optician is asked what legal authority the ANSI ophthalmic prescription lens standard carries. Which description is accurate?

    • A.It is a voluntary consensus standard written by industry and user representatives that defines how a finished pair is measured and judged; it is not a statute, but it is widely adopted as the benchmark laboratories and dispensaries work to.✓ Answer
    • B.It is a federal law enforced by the FDA, and violations carry federal penalties.
    • C.It is a state licensing rule that applies only in states that license opticians.
    • D.It is one manufacturer's internal quality manual with no application beyond that company.

    Consensus standards are developed by balanced committees and adopted by agreement rather than enacted by a legislature, so compliance is contractual and professional rather than statutory; the standard is nevertheless the accepted yardstick for judging a finished job, and it separately directs that dress prescription lenses meet the federal impact-resistance requirement.

    Source: ANSI Z80.1, ophthalmic prescription lens standardReport a problem with this question

15. 15. A finished pair arrives from the laboratory and the optician performs final verification before dispensing it. What role does the ANSI ophthalmic prescription lens standard play at this step?

    • A.It replaces the prescription by telling the laboratory what powers to make.
    • B.It applies only to occupational safety eyewear and has nothing to say about everyday dress eyewear.
    • C.It identifies the parameters that are checked — including sphere and cylinder power, axis, add power, prism at the reference point, center thickness, and segment or fitting-cross height — and states how far each may differ from what was ordered before the job is judged unacceptable.✓ Answer
    • D.It certifies that the finished lenses cannot break.

    The standard does not decide what to make — the prescription does that — it decides how the result is judged, by naming the measurable parameters of a finished pair and the permitted departure from the ordered values, which is what makes verification an objective pass-or-fail check rather than an opinion.

    Source: ANSI Z80.1, ophthalmic prescription lens standardReport a problem with this question

16. 16. A man telephones the optical, says he is a patient's husband, and asks staff to read out her prescription so he can order a pair of glasses as a surprise gift. What is the correct handling under patient privacy requirements?

    • A.Release it, because a spouse is automatically entitled to the information.
    • B.Release it if the caller can supply the patient's date of birth.
    • C.Release only the sphere powers, since partial information is not protected.
    • D.Decline, because a prescription is protected health information that may not be given to a spouse or any other third party without the patient's authorization or designation, and invite the patient herself to authorize the release.✓ Answer

    A prescription is part of the patient's health record, so privacy requirements let it go to the patient or to someone the patient has authorized or designated, and marriage alone is not such an authorization; identifying details like a date of birth prove nothing about consent, and disclosing only part of the record is still a disclosure.

    Source: HIPAA Privacy RuleReport a problem with this question

17. 17. A patient asks the optician to explain the difference between the three eye care professions. Which explanation is accurate?

    • A.The optician writes the prescription and the optometrist fills it.
    • B.All three perform eye surgery, and only the professional title differs.
    • C.An ophthalmologist is a physician who examines, diagnoses and treats eye disease and performs eye surgery; an optometrist is a doctor of optometry who examines and refracts the eyes, prescribes, and manages conditions within the scope the law allows; an optician interprets and fills the prescription by fitting and dispensing eyewear.✓ Answer
    • D.The optometrist performs eye surgery and the ophthalmologist specializes in dispensing eyewear.

    The three roles are defined by what each is licensed to do: medical and surgical care belongs to the ophthalmologist, examination, refraction and prescribing belong to the optometrist within the limits of law, and the optician's authority begins only with a valid prescription written by one of the other two.

    Source: American Board of Opticianry Basic Certification exam content outline, professional roles and scope of practiceReport a problem with this question

18. 18. A patient who has worn her current glasses comfortably for a year returns and reports that yesterday she suddenly saw a shower of new floaters and flashes of light, and that today part of her side vision seems blocked. What should the optician do?

    • A.Recommend an anti-reflective coating to reduce the flashes of light.
    • B.Recognize the symptoms as medical rather than optical and refer her for prompt examination by an optometrist or ophthalmologist, documenting the referral.✓ Answer
    • C.Re-verify the eyewear and offer a base curve change to relieve the symptoms.
    • D.Advise her to wait a few weeks and come back for a new refraction if it has not cleared.

    Sudden new floaters, flashes and a shadow or curtain in the field are classic warning signs of a retinal tear or detachment, a time-critical condition that no eyewear change can address, and referral rather than diagnosis is what keeps the optician inside scope of practice.

    Source: American Board of Opticianry Basic Certification exam content outline, dispensing procedures and referral responsibilityReport a problem with this question

19. 19. A prescription arrives reading -2.00 -1.50 x 180 for the right eye, and for the left eye it shows a cylinder power with no sign in front of it and an axis written as 195. What is the correct professional and legal course of action?

    • A.Transpose the right eye into plus cylinder form and write the left eye in the same form.
    • B.Contact the prescriber for clarification before the job is ordered and document the contact and the response, because an optician may not interpret, complete, or change a prescriber's prescription.✓ Answer
    • C.Order the right lens now and make the left lens plano until the patient returns.
    • D.Record the left axis as 15 in minus cylinder form, since 195 minus 180 equals 15, and send the job to the laboratory.

    An axis outside the 1-to-180 convention and a cylinder with no sign are ambiguities, not arithmetic problems, and a plausible-looking correction could reverse the cylinder or land the axis on the wrong meridian; only the prescriber may resolve or amend a prescription, and documenting the call protects both the patient and the optician.

    Source: American Board of Opticianry Basic Certification exam content outline, professional practice and scope of practiceReport a problem with this question

20. 20. An optician who holds national board certification is moving to another state and asks what he will be allowed to do there. What is the accurate answer?

    • A.National certification is itself a license and is valid in every state.
    • B.Opticianry licensure exists in some states and not in others, and the requirements, the permitted scope and the acceptance of national certification differ, so he must consult that state's board and its optical practice act.✓ Answer
    • C.No state regulates opticians, so his certification alone governs wherever he works.
    • D.Every state licenses opticians under identical requirements.

    National certification is a voluntary credential that demonstrates competency, while the authority to practice is granted by the state, and because only some states license opticians and their rules and recognized credentials vary, the practice act of the state where the work is performed is what actually controls.

    Source: American Board of Opticianry Basic Certification exam handbook, certification versus state licensureReport a problem with this question

21. 21. A patient needs prescription eyewear for work in a machine shop where flying particles are a hazard. Which statement correctly describes how this differs from dispensing ordinary dress eyewear?

    • A.A dress frame is acceptable as long as polycarbonate lenses are used in it.
    • B.Safety eyewear is a matter of personal preference and is not covered by any separate standard.
    • C.The federal impact-resistance test for dress spectacle lenses is the same test used to qualify occupational eye protection, so any dress lens qualifies.
    • D.Occupational eye protection is governed by a separate consensus impact standard: the lenses and the frame must each be manufactured and marked to that standard, the finished pair is rated at the level of its weakest component, side protection is required where flying objects are a hazard, and federal workplace safety rules make the employer responsible for providing protection that meets the standard.✓ Answer

    Occupational protection is qualified by a much more demanding impact standard than the federal dress-lens requirement, and because the eye is protected by the whole device, a compliant lens mounted in a non-rated frame yields only the protection of that frame; the employer carries the legal duty under workplace safety rules to supply protection meeting the standard, while the dispenser's duty is to supply and correctly mark a complete assembly that actually meets it.

    Source: ANSI/ISEA Z87.1 occupational and educational eye and face protection standard; OSHA 29 CFR 1910.133Report a problem with this question

Practice questions based on the American Board of Opticianry Basic Certification exam content outline, standard ophthalmic dispensing references, and the federal rules that govern eyewear (the FDA impact-resistance requirement and the FTC Eyeglass and Contact Lens Rules). ABO and NCLE are marks of the American Board of Opticianry and National Contact Lens Examiners; this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Opticianry is licensed in only some states and the requirements differ — confirm your own state board's practice act and the current exam format before testing. About the ABO exam →