O.D. to O.D.

SCRATCHING THE SURFACE

WHAT IF YOUR PRACTICE SUDDENLY HAD 3,500 MORE CONTACT LENS WEARERS?

Scot Morris
O.D., F.A.A.O.
Chief Optometric Editor

HOW IS your contact lens practice? I hear docs report that this part of their practice is not growing and that there is increasing competitive pressure from online retailers. This may be true, but we really should take a look at the opportunities presented — and that person we see in the mirror — before we put a note in the complaint box.

Of the 314 million people in the United States, myopia affects 30%, or about 94 million, and hyperopia affects another 10%, or about 31 million, according to the AOA. Presbyopia affects about 111 million, according to Alcon research. That means about 236 million people have some sort of refractive issue. And only about 16% of this group (138 million) wear contact lenses, according to The Washington Post. Why is this number so low?

ARE WE DOING A GOOD JOB?

I would love to think that our industry is doing so well at promoting great vision that the rest are wearing glasses. I doubt that is true. If it were, wouldn’t most of them be eligible to wear contact lenses also — even if we just focused on the estimated 78.5 million people who have some degree of ametropia and are uncorrected?

According to the math, about 198 million Americans who could potentially wear contact lenses do not. Let’s say that 30% of this population would not be candidates due to health reasons, such as ocular disease or personal preferences. (They do not want to touch their eyes, or they have low-level ametropia and do not feel that visual correction is necessary to help them “function.”)

That still leaves 138.6 million people, or about 3,647 contact lens candidates for each of the approximately 38,000 optometrists. I am guessing that if your practice suddenly had 3,647 more contact lens wearers, who pay fitting fees and buy contact lenses, many of your financial worries would be over.

Guess what? Most of these patients are in our communities, but we have yet to reach them.

SEE THE MILLIONS

As an industry, we have yet to scratch the surface of the contact lens market. Instead, we fight for the same patients who wear lenses now. We simply don’t see the millions of potential wearers. I don’t know if this is because we are not reaching them on a local, individual level or if we, as an industry, are failing to educate the general public about contact lenses. I do know that we can increase contact lens wear if we do two things:

1. “Find” new contact lens wearers. They are out there, but they are not convinced. Is it because of a lack of consumer education by the provider and staff? Is it fear? Is it cost? Is it lack of a truly great visual solution?

2. Keep “current” wearers from dropping out. The No. 1 cause of dropout is ocular surface disease or, maybe better said, the failure of the eye care community to treat dry eye disease and ocular allergy.

WHAT’S THE ANSWER?

I am not sure what the answer is for your community, your practice or your next patient, but I do know one thing: We are just scratching the surface. What will you do to change this? OM.