When Words Mean as Much As Dk and Base Curve

Article Preview:

Before you can fit a contact lens, you have to talk it up to the patient. These five pearls will help you talk the talk.

A young colleague once came to us with a dilemma. He considered himself quite good at fitting contact lenses. Yet he didn't fit many patients. The reason, he believed, was that he didn't know about "the other things." In other words, he didn't know which of his patients to approach about contact lenses, or how to convince them to try this option.

Find yourself with a similar problem? Perhaps you've fine-tuned your fitting skills, as this doctor did, or added specialty designs for presbyopes or astigmats. Still, you won't be able to grow your contact lens practice if you don't know how to manage the whole patient. Here are five ways you can connect with potential contact lens wearers so they can benefit from all your clinical expertise.

1. Know the Patient

Professional marketers live by an important rule: Know the prospect. It applies in clinical practice, too. You would speak differently to a child during an exam than you would to an adult patient.

Even if you mention contact lenses to every appropriate patient-- this is one way to increase your fits--how you speak to each patient is equally important. Three groups you must pay careful attention to: adult contact lens wearers, children and teen-agers, and the parents of these younger patients.

Contact lens manufacturers have identified five characteristics of adult RGP wearers: they're information-driven (they want all the facts); they're health-conscious; they're selective about their vision; they have higher-than-average education and income levels; and they want value for their money. Appeal to these characteristics, and you should reap the rewards.

Meanwhile, you'll have more opportunities to fit younger patients. This is especially true with new research showing that RGPs can slow the progression of myopia. Besides, there are other, non-cosmetic reasons to put children in contacts (see "Nine Indications for Kids and Contacts," September 1999). You must address the child or teen-ager you're fitting. This patient, most likely 10-14 years old, probably couldn't care less about eye health. What's more important is what his or her peers think.