contact lens management
Instant GP Gratification
Inventory GPs are as easy as soft lenses.
KATHY MILANO, O.D.

In a busy practice, time means everything. And in a multi-practitioner office, everything relates to time management, which affects the bottom line of the practice. In this established contact lens practice, the abnormal eye and ocular conditions are the norm. Fitting lenses from inventory during the initial exam improves time management for everyone.

Soft lenses don't always suit

Many irregular corneas make fitting soft contact lenses impractical because of unacceptable visual acuity. We're accustomed to keeping an inventory of soft spherical and toric lenses in our practice that we fit most patients with initially. More often than not with soft torics, doing so results in excessive chair time and frustration for the patient and the practice. At that point, we design and order a GP lens to accommodate the patient's requirements for corneal health and improved stable vision.

Fitting made easy

Naturalens (Key Distributed Products International), a GP lens design with a standard diameter of 10.3 mm, is larger than traditional GP lenses and incorporates a unique Variable Inverse Periphery (VIP) system, providing a more forgiving fitting relationship. The most impressive development of the new Naturalens is the Dispensing Inventory System (DIS). This 120 GP lens inventory is simple to use and is an excellent time management tool. The design offers a new option for the average patient as well as patients who have irregular corneas. The DIS has fitting curves available in 0.10mm (approximately 0.50D steps) and powers from ­.75 to ­5.50 in 0.25 increments. The 10.3 is standard, but larger 10.8 and smaller 9.8 diameters are also available. Powers or fitting curves outside the inventory parameters are available on a custom basis at no extra charge.

The GP advantage

My practice does recommend the option of GP lenses because of the many benefits they provide, such as excellent vision, long-term corneal health, ease of care and myopia control.

But it's the immediate dispensability of soft lenses that sway the patient and practitioner in trying soft lens products. This usually results in vision that's not perfect, but acceptable enough to make the decision to try the soft lens option the day of the office visit only to return later, again dissatisfied with the performance.

No more excuses

Naturalens allows us the opportunity to now provide the GP option the day of the initial exam just as we do with soft lenses. Fitting from the DIS enables us to select a proper fitting curve to cornea relationship and provide the power needed to satisfy the patient's visual demands. The larger diameter with the VIP design seems to reduce the traditional initial lens awareness associated with the more common smaller GP lens designs.

When presented with challenging corneal conditions requiring "special" GP lens designs, or the more common problematic astigmatic soft toric patient, the Naturalens DIS is an easy option. After all, few practitioners question the benefits of GP lenses; the necessary time commitment has been the reason we hesitated to fit them. Experiencing the benefits of GP lenses the day of the visit is a convenience to patients and serves our practice well in the of area efficiency.

DR. MILANO PRACTICES OPTOMETRY IN DENVER, COLO. YOU CAN CONTACT HER AT (303) 279-6600.