Sotiris Plainis, MSc, PhD, FBCLA
Optician-Optometrist, Research Fellow

Sotiris Plainis completed his undergraduate studies in Optics and Optometry in Greece and UK. These were followed by postgraduate and postdoctoral research at the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, UMIST, UK. Since then he has been employed as a Principal Research Scientist at the Laboratory of Optics and Vision, University of Crete, being a faculty member of two postgraduate courses and having an active clinical and research group in visual psychophysics and electrophysiology.

He is appointed as Visiting Research Fellow at Aston University, UK. He forms a Faculty member of the Basic Optics course organised by the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ESCRS) and a past member of the Education Committee of the European Academy of Optometry and Optics (EAOO). He is a member of the International Society for Contact Lens Research (ISCLR) and a fellow the British Contact Lens Association (BCLA). Since 2015 he forms an International Vision Impairment (VI) Classifier, IPC. He has published widely in his field in peer-reviewed Journals (60) and edited a book (“Presbyopia: origins, effects and treatment”, SLACK Incorporated). He is the manager of Optical House in Heraklion.

Orestis Loukaides, MSc
Optician-Optometrist

Orestis is the owner of Optical House in Rhodes since 1996 and co-owner of Optical House in Herakleion in Crete. He graduated (1992) from the Optics department at TEI, Athens. In 1993 he attended a series of courses in Optometry at UMIST (Manchester, United Kingdom) to upgrade his diploma as an Optometrist. At the same university he completed his postgraduate studies: in July 1995 he received his degree of Master for his work entitled “Factors that influence the perception of depth of field.”

He has worked as an Optometrist in Cyprus in Nicolaides Optical, he is an experienced fitter in contact lenses for keratoconus, ectatic corneas and in orthokeratology.

In January 2000 he was awarded the Business Excellence Award from the Chamber of the Dodecanese as a reward for the business policy pursued for the creation and development of his company.

He participates regularly in international conferences and workshops on the subject of Optics-Optometry and Contact Lenses, while he visits in an annual basis the international exhibitions in Paris (Silmo) and Milan (Mido).

Jenny Spaho, MSc
Optician – Optometrist

Jenny graduated from the Department of Optics & Optometry, TEI of Aigion in 2016. In October 2017, she enrolled in the postgraduate program “Optics & Vision” of School of Medicine, University of Crete, which she completed in April 2020.

During her postgraduate studies she visited Aston University as an Erasmus scholar to take part on a postgraduate study on: “An investigation of the change of depth of focus with pupil constriction, using pilocarpine” as a method of treating presbyopia. She is a member of Optical House since September 2018.

Constantine Spelas
Optician-Optometrist

Constantine has graduated from the University of West Attica. His work experience ranges from clinical ophthalmology environments to independent optical practices. His continuous education is achieved through seminars and he is also a member of the Hellenic Academy of Optometry.