Imari has worked in optics for a total of 15 years, initially dispensing glasses for various high street multiples before joining Optical Express in 2020, as Clinic Manager of our state of the art treatment centre and eye clinic in Bristol. She now works alongside our renowned surgery team, delivering a vast range of eye care solutions to patients, moving beyond glasses and contact lenses to help provide life-changing laser eye surgery and lens replacement surgery to the people of Bristol.
Running both a clinic and treatment centre, Imari supports patients throughout every step of their journey, from their initial consultation all the way through to treatment days and aftercare appointments. This continuity allows Imari to witness every patient’s individual journeys to visual freedom, which is one of the favourite aspects of her role as Clinic Manager. “Seeing the outcomes, especially for the patients that you’ve seen yourself for consultation, and you’ve probably spoken to them over the phone about their journey, and then you see them on treatment day and you get to see them with their outcomes 24 hours later, that’s absolutely the best aspect of my role,” she explains.
Supporting patients when they come in for their post-operative check-up, Imari has come to understand the significant impact that vision correction surgery can have on a patient’s life. She loves to see how grateful they are after receiving life-changing treatment, often bringing the team small tokens and gifts as a means of saying thank you. “We get an awful lot of thank you cards within the clinic, which we put up with pride. And the gifts and the tokens that we get from the patients are amazing. That’s what makes everything that we do worthwhile,” she comments.
With her previous roles largely focused on prescribing and dispensing glasses and contact lenses, Imari now works alongside world-renowned ophthalmic surgeons to provide laser eye surgery and lens replacement surgery. This move from core optics into refractive optometry has been a great learning experience, allowing her to expand her knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of vision correction surgery. “I’ve had the opportunity to observe both types of treatment, as well as work alongside the surgery team, the support team, and the surgery managers to really understand the ins and outs of the procedure,” she says. “I’ve spent a long time not learning anything new within my previous roles, but there’s a lot of new challenging things that I’ve learned since I started here,” she continues.
Making the move into refractive optometry has not only helped Imari with her professional development, it has also allowed her to finally provide a full range of eye care solutions to her patients. She is glad that she is now able to help those who are desperate to be free of their glasses and contact lenses, commenting: “I have really enjoyed dispensing glasses and I still do as part of my day job with Optical Express. However, all of the patients that I’ve seen over the years that say ‘I just want to be glasses free’, I’ve now got that solution for them as well.”
What advice would Imari give to those thinking about a career at Optical Express? “Anyone who is thinking about changing from core optics into Optical Express, I would absolutely recommend both the company and the learning curve that it can deliver. I think a lot of people that I know within optics have been within the industry for a very long time, but probably felt like I did where they didn’t have a new challenge, and it is absolutely a new challenge and one that’s very rewarding. I love coming to work every day, I love the patients that I see and I love the team that I work with.” Are you ready to take on a new challenge? From excellent training and development opportunities to being able to help change lives on a daily basis, you’ll find a career at Optical Express more satisfying than you ever imagined. View our latest vacancies now and develop your career with the UK’s leading refractive surgery provider.
