CLINICAL

  SPORTS VISION

SCORE WITH CONTACT LENSES

GIVE YOUR ATHLETES THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE WITH CONTACT LENSES

JEREMY CIANO, O.D.

FITTING ATHLETES in contact lenses has a great deal to do with your ability to recognize the best way to improve the athlete’s performance. Specifically, that means identifying the needs of your athlete, knowing the contact lens type that will meet the specific visual needs of his or her sports and, most importantly, conveying that knowledge to your patient.

Follow these three steps to provide your athletes with superior performance.

1 IDENTIFY NEEDS

All sports have unique visual demands. While collecting the athlete’s history, be sure to ask for the visual information for the specific sport. This information provides a good starting point for your exam.

One potential issue to correct for is astigmatism. Don’t be afraid to over-correct cylinder on your athletes. Show them the difference in VA between 0.50 cyl vs. sphere in the phoropter. It has been my experience, that they almost always describe the difference as significant.

Learn which lens designs will best meet your athlete’s needs.

If a patient has only 0.50D cyl, and notices the difference, don’t be afraid to prescribe a toric 0.75 cyl contact lens. For most athletes, an over correction by the 0.12 spherical equivalent is well worth the clarity.

2 PAIR WITH A CONTACT LENS

After you have identified the needs of your athlete, pair the athlete with the appropriate lens. To accomplish this, first know the specific intricacies of each design and manufacturer. Do your research as to which contact lens designs may meet the athlete’s needs, such as those that arise from the environment in which the athlete performs or those demanded in the different gaze positions he or she must maintain. For example, a hockey goalie may need a different ballasted toric lens design than a trap shooter because the shooter, for the most part, is static and vertical whereas the goalie will be spending crucial ice time horizontally. The key here is knowing your athlete and the lens particulars.

3 SHARE WITH THE ATHLETE

Educate the athlete on the improvements a sports-specific lens will make to his or her performance.

A few things to consider:

Be honest and transparent. Let patients know that these lenses will not replace their normal, everyday contact lenses, but instead are meant to be a sport-specific lens to improve their game. Just like a golfer can’t wear the same shoes to work as he or she does for the five hours on the golf course, so too does the athlete need to understand the importance of changing his or her contact lenses for the task-specific activity.

Be up-front about costs. I often joke with my golfers, “Hey, you are going to lose $3 on the first hole anyway when your first tee shot goes off into the woods, so what’s another buck for golf-specific contact lenses to see better? You can at least try to find it . . .” My joke is frequently followed up with, “for the extra buck, I may find a few extra balls and end up being ahead of the game.” When you put it in terms that the athlete can understand, it makes sense not just visually, but economically.

After discussing an athlete’s specific needs and how to meet those, offer a trial pack of contact lenses so the athlete can see for him or herself the difference in performance. (30-pack daily disposables have been a sports vision practitioner’s absolute dream come true!)

ILLUSTRATE THE BENEFITS

Some O.D.s may shy away from discussing contact lens wear for athletes, as they perceive it to be sales. But, it’s not sales; it’s education. Most patients aren’t aware of the awesome array of technology and precision optics that we have access to nowadays. That’s where we come in! OM

DR. CIANO is owner of Revolution-EYES in Carmel, Ind. He is a member of the AOA and a founding member of the High Performance Vision Associates. He can be reached at DrCiano@Revolution-EYES.com. To comment visit tinyurl.com/OMComment.