Enhance your practice by enhancing patients’ eyes
Daily disposable contact lenses have been the gold standard for part-time wearers, so why not offer something to patients that can enhance their eyes at the same time?
After years of explaining the benefits of inserting a new, fresh lens every day, daily disposable contact lenses now comprise 65% of my practice. This has become possible due to constant expansion of new products and parameters for astigmatic, presbyopic, and eye-enhancing lenses.
In our practice, we are constantly trying to expose our patients to new products that help bring value to our annual contact lens fitting/evaluation fees and improve patient satisfaction. When patients come in for their annual exams, we talk about new products that might help improve their lives, even if they are completely happy with their contacts. This year we began offering all our patients a trial pair of 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE® Brand Contact Lenses from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., if their prescription qualifies. Not only do these lenses get patients excited, but they have injected an element of fun into the practice that we all enjoy.
Getting Patients On Board
Instead of changing the iris color, 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE® Lenses help to enhance the patient’s limbal ring, thus giving the illusion of a brighter, whiter eye. Our office describes the limbal ring as “eyeliner for the eye,” which helps patients understand the effect of this lens (we try hard not to use the word “color”). Many patients of mine like their current eye color, so this is a fun and easy way for them to make their eyes pop without a dramatic change in their appearance.
There is an art to getting patients to try new products. In the past, our offices have discouraged the use of cosmetic contact lenses because many patients experienced dryness due to the material and modality, as well as loss of visual acuity due to the design or placement of the pigment. With the latest offerings, however, we don’t have those same concerns and can more confidently present the lenses knowing we are not sacrificing comfort or vision for enhancement.
Here are eight tips for successfully introducing new products such as eye-enhancing lenses in your office:
- Don’t make assumptions – One of the reasons we talk to everybody about eye-enhancing contact lenses is that experience proved my initial assumptions wrong. Some of the fashion-conscious young women I presented them to were not at all interested, while other patients I would not have picked as the “target market” at all have loved the new lenses.
- Put the lenses on in the office – Most people need to see the effect on their eyes to decide whether they like it. I don’t over-explain before I put the lenses on eyes, either. Once patients see the effect, you can talk a little more about why they work.
- Consider modality – When it comes to “beauty” lenses, a daily disposable lens really helps to address the comfort and compliance issues we were having with some other products in this category. Patients can now wear the lenses part-time and do not have to worry about wasting lenses if they don’t wear them enough.
- Provide samples – Even when patients opt not to make a change, they appreciate the opportunity and feel like they got something for their exam fees.
- Choose a staff member to manage the process – Empower that individual to help choose which lens to start with first. In addition to being enthusiastic and wearing the lenses herself, the staffer needs to be skilled at insertion and removal so that trying several variants doesn’t take too much time.
- Set expectations appropriately – For example, 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE® is NOT going to change eye color dramatically. We do have colored lenses for patients who want a more dramatic color change, but they may need to be educated about differences in comfort compared to what they are wearing.
- Give two prescriptions – Some patients don’t like change, so I often say I’m going to give them one prescription for the lenses they already like, and another one for a new product that many patients like for enhancing the natural beauty of their eyes.
- Explain cost – For someone who is already in daily disposable lenses or just wants to use the lenses for special occasions, the cost to wear a daily disposable eye-enhancing lens is very affordable. This helps open their mind up to trying new products without fear of cost.
We have always been committed to offering our patients the latest technology and contact lens innovations. Eye-enhancing contact lenses are another fun way to appeal to our patient base, stay at the forefront of new technology, and keep patients coming back to us year after year.
Dr. Aaron Evans is in private practice in Boca Raton, FL. He was compensated by Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. for his service in preparing this article.
1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE® Brand Contact Lenses are available with and without vision correction. As with any contact lens, eye problems including corneal ulcers can develop. Some wearers may experience mild irritation, itching or discomfort. Lenses should not be prescribed if patients have any eye infection or experience eye discomfort, excessive tearing, vision changes, redness or other eye problems. Consult the package insert for complete information available from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., by calling 1-800-843-2020 or by visiting www.acuvueprofessional.com.