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Address the Red in Your Practice

Develop a program that will help you diagnose and treat red eye

GINA M. WESLEY O.D., M.S., F.A.A.O.

Status quo may apply equitably in many situations, but it should never apply to a case of red eyes. We most certainly attempt to address this common issue, but as practitioners we surely have an amount of “tolerance” for the redness and irritation we see.

But what amount of tolerance is acceptable for our patients? How many times have you inquired about red eyes and are met with a shrug and a “What can we do about it anyway?” response?

Granted, we are busy and need to address many items during exams. But there exist many benefits, both to patients and our practices, to exploring the basis of the red eye.

Consider the following ideas for your practice:

Bring them back

Really. I need to come to terms with this, as I try to do too much in my exams. We just don’t have time to adequately inquire, explore and examine a patient for many red eye etiologies during a comprehensive exam. This includes patient education, which can take the most time of all.

During the comprehensive exam, you can begin the dialogue about the red eye condition and why it needs further testing to determine the best course of treatment. Most chronic conditions, such as dry eye disease, need a separate visit to elicit signs, symptoms and attempted treatment routes. Do yourself and your patients a kindness, and allot the time you need to address a red eye issue.

Inform your patients

How will your patients know their red eye is abnormal if you don’t let them know? Yes, obvious acute flare-ups do not escape the attention of the average patient, but the “kind of red eye that simmers” may be par for the course for many.

You could run an email campaign during drier months that asks, “Did you know that watery, red eyes can actually be a sign of dry eyes?” and then educate your patients on how you can examine and assist in treating this chronic condition.

The same could be said for allergic eye conditions. How many of our patients tolerate it when we could be effectively diagnosing and treating the allergy issue rather than letting patients suffer because of it? Let them know.

Keep contact lens wearers in their lenses

Contact lens wearers deserve their own category of management because their red eyes may be from a non-contact lens etiology or could be due to contact lens wear alone. Either way, red eyes may lead to low wearing success, which is dissatisfactory for many patients, as well as hard on our practices due to low wear rates and earlier dropout.

I use red eyes as a tool to simply ask patients whether they would like to wear contact lenses for as many years as possible. Then, I let them know if we don’t address their red eye issues, they may be forced to quit wearing contact lenses sooner. This helps with compliance and, at the very least, may strike a chord so the next time you educate them, you are in familiar territory.

Start today

Don’t let red eyes be the status quo in your practices. Start addressing them sooner, more efficiently and more effectively. OM

DR. WESLEY PRACTICES AT COMPLETE EYE CARE OF MEDINA, A VISION SOURCE FRANCHISE SHE OPENED IN 2008. SHE WAS HONORED AS MINNESOTA’S 2011 O.D. OF THE YEAR. EMAIL HER AT DRWESLEYCECOFMEDINA.COM, OR COMMENT AT TINYURL.COM/OMCOMMENT.