Unlocking the Contact Lens Conversation

I’m a native Arkansan—I went to Arkansas State University and earned my optometry degree from the University of the Incarnate Word, then practiced for 2 years in a small, family-owned private practice where I worked in high school and all through college. For the past 4 years, I’ve been in a large, highly medical, OD-MD practice, where I do primary care optometry and lead our dry eye services. I’m excited to be joining a dry eye specialty practice this summer, but I plan to continue seeing primary care patients, along with fitting contact lenses.

I’d love to share some tips I’ve put together over the years on how to improve contact lens conversations and grow this side of the practice. But first, let me tell you a little about my work with these amazing devices.

INSIGHT THROUGH RESEARCH AND EXPERIENCE

Being a third-year visionary optometrist at the Contact Lens Institute (CLI), I have had a great avenue to advocate for contact lens health and safety, plus it has allowed me to be involved with top-notch research. (And not simply research on how multifocal designs work, but rather consumer research, which is so interesting.)

I have also found that contact lens patients are so valuable to a practice because they have more frequent eye exams and spend more money than non-wearers. I find them to be very loyal. If you can make a contact lens patient happy, they’re going to stick with you, and they’re more likely to share their experience with their friends and family or leave you a good review.

inside the contact lens wearer’s mind

The CLI’s spring 2024 report focused on what matters to prospective, current, and former contact lens patients when it comes to their interactions with eye care practice staff. The findings revealed that among glasses wearers (individuals who have only worn glasses, never contact lenses), 47.8% were interested in contact lenses.¹ That statistic blew my mind because I thought there wasn’t much interest. However, only about 10% said their optometrist or ophthalmologist recommended contact lenses. That means there are prospective wearers just sitting in our chairs looking to us as the experts to mention contact lenses to them.

Another interesting finding from the report was that friends and family are more than twice as likely (23%) to suggest a contact lens trial than an eye doctor and that the eye care community believes that interested patients will bring up the subject, while many patients are actually waiting for their eye doctors to initiate the discussion.¹ For these reasons, I put together the following five key steps to success in unlocking the contact lens conversation with your patients.

5 KEY STEPS TO UNLOCK THE CONTACT LENS CONVERSATION

Key Step No. 1: Initiate the Conversation

Half of the patients in our chair who are glasses-only wearers are also interested in contact lenses, so it’s our problem that we’re not bringing it up. Fortunately, we can change this. One way to do this is to create the right workflow. Make it a point to discuss contact lenses with more patients each day. Maybe at the beginning of the eye exam you can say, “I see you’re coming in today for a routine eye exam. Have you ever been interested in contact lenses?”

At one point, I wasn’t bringing it up unless my patients did, but now I make the effort to mention contact lenses to the majority of my patients.

You can also get your staff involved in mentioning contact lenses to your patients. They can do this when they answer the phone or work up a patient, so you know the patient’s interest level before they even get to you.

Another thing to think about is using other tools to communicate with patients, such as in-office signage, email newsletters, or social media. I know when I’m the patient, I look at a potential doctor’s website and social media to see what kind of content they post, so why not share great contact lens education for your patients to see?

Key Step No. 2: Personalize Your Approach

We can look at additional data from the CLI report to find out what motivates the majority of patients to wear contact lenses: freedom from glasses.¹ But what does this mean? There’s no way of knowing what freedom of glasses means to an individual patient without first getting to know them. Spend a few extra minutes at the beginning of each examination to determine their visual demands and what they find challenging.

Many will tell you everything is fine, but if you probe further and ask how they’re seeing during specific activities, they may confide they are having some problems, such as dealing with allergies or dryness. At this point, you can suggest contact lenses as a solution. Connect those dots for them. “Oh, you’re having trouble at the computer while wearing your progressive lenses? Have you ever considered multifocal contact lenses so you don’t have to raise your head?” Other suggestions could include the option for dual wear for multiple types of contact lenses or switching between glasses and contact lenses, depending on the patient’s tasks or lifestyle demands.

Key Step No. 3: Address Any Specific Patient Concerns

Some patient concerns are outside our control, such as the fear of touching their eye. Others could include things such as cost, dryness/allergies, or thinking they are the only ones on the planet with astigmatism and it just can’t be corrected.

That said, many issues can be addressed and overcome by straightforward communication, ensuring that patients’ unspoken concerns are acknowledged and addressed. I try to figure out ways we can proactively deal with concerns patients have but are not necessarily expressing.

At the end of the visit, the patient may not be interested in contact lenses, and that’s ok. Keep in mind that they may have a friend or coworker who is, and that patient may recommend you as a provider. Additionally, your patient might not be interested in contact lens wear now, but after struggling with the same issue for months or years, they may start to give contact lenses some serious thought, and because you already planted that seed, they come back and tell you they are ready to try them. So even if it doesn’t lead to a sale right away, simply having the conversation and addressing concerns can be very effective in the long run.

Talking about the price of contact lenses with patients isn’t always easy because sometimes they don’t see the value, but I’ve gotten better at explaining value versus performance. You don’t have to talk specifics (I don’t talk about money at all). I explain to patients that their lenses might be a little more expensive per year, but that there’s a lot they’ll get out of them (eg, performance of the lens, convenience of daily disposable lenses vs monthly replacement, improved comfort for dry eye). I also note that the patient will get a higher manufacturer’s rebate on those lenses.

Key Step No. 4: Discuss Technological Advances

Research shows that patients want to hear about the latest and greatest advances in contact lens technology. Sometimes those who weren’t a good candidate 5 or 10 years ago might be now because there’s a toric or multifocal option, a new material to help with dryness, or expanded parameters.

Staying up to date and educating patients on technological advances in contact lenses is a great way to establish yourself as an expert to your patients. Offering new options to patients or at least educating them about these options allows them access to the best options available.

Key Step No. 5: Make It Convenient

We live in a world of Amazon Prime and mail-order grocery delivery, so we have to make contact lenses convenient, too. Patients are searching online for contact lenses, and they might even be doing it in our exam lanes. (I’ve had it happen to me!) They’re looking for the most convenient option, so that’s what we need to be for them.

Make sure your patients know you offer in-office trials. I have colleagues who demo lenses for patients. They put the contact lenses in and let patients walk around the optical. If the patient doesn’t want to move forward, the doctor doesn’t have to spend time on demo insertion and removal training; they just take the lenses out. This is a great way to capture patients who are on the fence about contact lens wear.

As I mentioned earlier, offering online ordering through your practice website or a third-party service that integrates with your electronic health record and provides direct shipping to the patient is a big plus. Some patients don’t really want to come back to your office to pick up their lenses. I also love a system that can send reminders to patients to reorder lenses in an attempt to catch some of those who aren’t buying a year’s supply or who need to come back in for their annual examination.

the culture calculation

Capturing more contact lens patients can also be done by creating a positive contact lens culture in your practice and empowering your staff. This can be accomplished by using data that can be tracked with concrete goals in mind (eg, number of new wearers per month, supplies sold) and offering incentives to your staff for hitting those goals. This fosters a team player mentality and creates a positive outlook on contact lenses for the entire office.

This improved culture, along with unlocking the contact lens conversation with your patients, will allow you to boost your practice revenue and better serve your patients.