Contact Lenses

Ride the Demographic Wave: Fit Baby Boomers with Multifocal Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses

By Jason Miller, OD

Baby Boomers are the enormous generation–with enormous vision needs. Move your Boomer patients into multifocal contact lenses in silicone hydrogel materials by educating them on health aspects, visual performance and lifestyle freedom.

With the country’s 77 million Baby Boomers well into middle- and older-age, there is a great need for multifocal vision correction. In addition to offering these patients multifocal ophthalmic lenses, you can increase their quality of life by introducing them to multifocal silicone hydrogel contact lenses. With the enhanced comfort these lenses provide, you can decrease the number of dropouts, thereby boosting practice revenues as, according to “New Data on Contact Lens Dropouts: An International Perspective” by John Rumpakis, OD, MBA, the loss of a single contact lens patient may cost your practice up to $24,000 over the patient’s lifetime.

There are “new” contact lens wearers entering the market and many of them are in the Baby Boomer generation. They want to maintain their youthful appearance with contact lenses and don’t want the hassle of spectacles. These are motivated patients who tend to accept multifocal soft contact lenses nicely. There also is a huge influx of the “Generation X’ers” who have grown up with soft contact lenses and do not want us to take them away. This is the generation that is going to drive the market in the next five to 10 years.

Determine Multifocal Contact Lens Fitting Fees
Multifocal contact lens fittings are typically a more challenging contact lens fit and require extra time and expertise. They always require a higher fee – this can be a global fee or per visit fee. We charge a global fee, which covers the fitting and the follow-up visits needed for a period of time (usually one to three visits). Our multifocal contact lens fitting fee is 120 percent more than that charged for single-vision contact lenses. Some offices have had success with charging a per visit fee, but I like the idea that patients can come back and tell me what they want improved. These patients are motivated and want to learn how to make these contact lenses work. I like to discuss the designs and technology involved, creating sophisticated patients. These patients will typically understand the process, have a stronger relationship with our office and are open to spending a little more to get what they want.

The Multifocal Silicone Hydrogel Conversation
Since the first step to moving patients into these contact lenses is education, think about how you would broach the subject. We have educational materials on multifocal silicone hydrogels, but the best marketing is to ask every patient if they have considered multifocal contact lenses. That opens the door for discussion and converts many patients into believers. Here is a sample of what I might say to a patient: “Now that your vision is beginning to change, with it becoming more difficult to read without reading glasses, you would also be a good candidate for multifocal contact lenses. They offer the same comfort you have with your current contact lenses, but provide improved quality of vision at all distances with both eyes working together. These silicone hydrogel multifocal contact lenses not only provide the best optics for your vision, but also are made of materials that meet the highest ocular health standards.”

Overcome Patient Resistance
Most of the time when patients are hesitant to try multifocal silicone hydrogels, they are in denial. They are resistant because they are unhappy with what is happening to their eyes and are concerned about possible adjustment issues to these designs. They may only be familiar with old-fashioned lined bifocals and worry that their vision will be awkward. Those who have never worn contact lenses before are concerned simply about wearing contact lenses and a few may be concerned about the expense. Multifocal silicone hydrogels are about 15 percent more expensive than traditional contact lenses. I focus on the health and vision benefits these contact lenses provide, but make sure we discuss fees upfront so patients are not surprised.

Manage Patient Expectations
It is really important to understand the patient’s expectations. I make a concerted effort to understand their visual needs and set realistic expectations up front. For example, if a patient is significantly myopic, I caution them that they may not be able to see quite as far away as they do now, but that their near visual acuity will be of a higher quality. I discuss the fact that it might take a couple fine-tuning changes to achieve their optimal vision correction. Vice versa, if they are emmetropic, I discuss the fact that they might lose a little crispness with their distance vision. My goal is to achieve a perfect balance between distance and near vision. Sometimes, the patient will have to choose whether they prefer better distance vision or better near vision when deciding between two different vision corrections.

Multifocal Silcone Hydrogel Patients More Loyal
You have greatly improved the life of a patient who is comfortably wearing multifocal silicone hydrogel contact lenses (especially if the person previously had to walk around with reading glasses at the tip of her nose or on a chain around her neck). For that reason, I have found these patients to be especially loyal. Not only are they more likely to tell their friends and family members about our practice, sharing their happiness with multifocal silicone hydrogels, but they are more likely to return every year for their comprehensive eye examination.

Multifocal silicone hydrogel contact lenses can restore the full range of vision to presbyopic patients while expanding your business with an influx of patients loyal to your practice because you improved their quality of life.

Related ROB Articles and Multimedia
Best Practices in Prescribing Multifocal Contact Lenses
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Address Discomfort, Minimize Dropouts

Jason R. Miller, OD, MBA, has been in practice 12 years and is in a partnership private practice with Tamara M. Kuhlmann, OD, MS, at EyeCare Professionals of Powell, Ohio. Contact: jasonrmiller@columbus.rr.com.

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