Sponsored Content
By Melissa Barnett, OD, FAAO, FSLS, FBCLA
April 26, 2023
The age of online retailers means that independent practices have to do all they can to differentiate themselves. When you can provide a custom soft contact lens that helps patients with a wide variety of prescriptions, you have created a practice differentiator. That patient not only has received the help they wanted but will come back to you for care and purchases, as they cannot get that same contact lens online.
I was fortunate to discover a custom soft contact lens, Revive,TM from Bausch +Lomb, that is helping me fit more patients with unique vision needs.
Patients with Vision Needs Beyond Standard Parameters
Revive contact lenses are a custom contact lens option for patients with high prescriptions, unique vision needs, and even those who have myopia or hyperopia with astigmatism and presbyopia. These lenses offer an expanded range of base curves and parameters.
For patients who have experienced contact lens discomfort, blurry vision due to rotation with soft toric contact lenses, or require a high prescription, Revive contact lenses may be a viable option in the contact lens market. Revive lenses are readily accessible to all practitioners and their patients.
Excellent for a Broad Range of Patients & Excellent for ODs
In a 2015 first-year retention study conducted in the UK with 524 contact lens patients, approximately 26 percent of new contact lens wearers dropped out of wear within the first year. For 71 percent of dropouts, no alternative lens or management strategy has been tried.1
A contact lens like Revive can be an alternative for those who have dropped out of standard contact lenses, since it can be tailored to each patient. My colleagues in non-specialty contact lens practices have told me that they are able to offer patients contact lenses that they have never been able to fit before. I find Revive contact lenses can be fitted for many patients, even those with small or large corneas, steep or flat corneas, and/or high prescriptions. Revive contact lenses can be fit by all practitioners, not just specialty contact lens practitioners. No special training is needed.
Return Patients to Contact Lens Wear
By providing custom parameters, Revive offers an opportunity for those who previously dropped out of contact lenses to return to contact lens wear, which benefits patients and the practice.
Fitting Revive is a practice-building opportunity. According to van der Worp, et al., we would double the number of contact lens wearers in our practices if we could reduce the dropout rate by as little as 3.5 percent yearly between 2020 and 2040.2
Build Profitability in Your Practice
Revive contact lenses are purchased directly from the practice, which ties the patient to the practice. An added benefit is that the contacts arrive quickly, even for lenses with high prescriptions including astigmatism and presbyopia. Contact lenses can be shipped directly to the patient, and then the patient is examined in-office, to eliminate extra visits.
Create Returning Patients
I always like to offer my patients the latest contact lens innovations, and my patients are excited to learn about and try new offerings. Revive offers patients a novel custom contact lens that can be fit in a wide variety of contact lens practices.
Contact lens patients are some of the most valuable patients for the financial success of your practice. In addition to contact lens materials and examination, these patients require comprehensive eyecare services including glasses and sunglasses, emergency eyecare services, medical eyecare such as dry eye disease, glaucoma and other specialty services.
Keeping patients in the practice keeps online competitors from earning revenue from your patients.
Bottom Line: Patients in Need of a Solution Can Be Helped & Patient Retention Can Provide an Incremental Profit Opportunity for Your Practice
A custom soft contact lens like Revive, which has wide parameters to fit more patients, can help create a practice primed for growth and profitability.
References
- Sulley A, Young G, Hunt C. Factors in the success of new contact lens wearers. Cont Lens Anterior Eye. 2017 Feb;40(1):15-24. doi: 10.1016/j.clae.2016.10.002. Epub 2016 Nov 3. PMID: 27818113.
- Van der Worp E, Wolffsohn JS, Jones L. Dropping the dropout rate. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2020 May;35:36-40, 42, https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2020/may-2020/dropping-the- dropout-rate
Melissa Barnett, OD, FAAO, FSLS, FBCLA, is Director of Optometry at University of California, SHCS. To contact her: drbarnett@ucdavis.edu
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