Contact Lens Success in Modern Optometric Clinics

Contact lens wearers are a foundational segment of many optometric practices. Our patients are happiest when they don’t notice their vision. The more they encounter, say, a foreign body sensation or a moment of blurred vision, the less they experience success.

But contact lenses are, at their core, complexly simple: As optometrists, we do more than merely measure a patient’s anatomy when we fit them for contact lenses. We assess their habits, their visual needs, their ocular conditions, their budgets, and their history with contact lenses to find a lens that fits not just their eye, but also their lifestyle.

We most often fit patients with daily contact lenses, as this technology mitigates the risk associated with poor hygiene and empowers patients to use lenses as often (or as infrequently) as they want. In part one of the EMPOWER: Business + Specialty Care Optometric Series, Jaclyn Garlich, OD, FAAO, provides an overview on how to fit patients with daily lenses. First, as she reminds us, it’s incumbent upon the provider to educate themselves on the spectrum of options that exist. Only then can we match patients with the lens that will give them the highest likelihood of success, thereby practicing the patient-customized care that our field holds in the highest regard.

Contact lenses are not just for our easiest patients (eg, 25-year-old myopes seeking to move on from glasses). Contact lenses play a role in caring for patients with ocular complexities, including presbyopia and ocular surface disease. As Melissa Barnett, OD, FAAO, FSLS, FBCLA, ACC, outlines in her piece, the role of the optometrist as educator is fundamental for patients to experience good outcomes. Take patients who wear multifocal lenses as an example: not only must they be educated on what multifocal lenses are, but they must also be informed that there will be an adjustment period, that proper hygiene dictates success, and that real-world limitations are a reality of multifocal lens optics. Without a trained optometrist preparing them for success, patients may feel disappointed with their outcomes and drop out of lenses altogether.

As contact lens technology continues to evolve exponentially, the optometric community must stay on top of innovations and the latest data to ensure that we offer our patients the highest likelihood of success.