Application facilitates lens choice and fit

Here, the author answers questions about an application, based on firsthand experience with it.

Please describe OptiExpert.

OptiExpert is an app available on smartphones, tablets and the web, created by CooperVision and designed to help doctors streamline difficult contact lens fits, increase efficiency and provide visual aids when educating patients on corneal hypoxia and oxygen transmissibility. This is done by oxygen profile maps that depict transmission in color tones by lens thickness and material. The app offers maps in multiple parameters and contact lens brands.

How long have you been using the app? What results have you seen within your practice?

I’ve been using the app for more than a year. It has significantly improved efficiency and success with multifocal contact lens fits. Specifically, it increases the odds of a successful fit of the first lens choice, which has the residual benefit of patient confidence in your contact lens fitting ability. Of course, it’s still important to discuss expectations.

What are the benefits of using this tool in practice?

I use it for new multifocal fits, new complicated toric fits, patients who are dissatisfied with their current lenses, and patients who are not seeing 20/20 without explanation. I easily use the app a few times on a busy contact lens day, and every now and again to check my work. On average, it saves five minutes, which is substantial for a 15-minute appointment: That’s five more minutes to talk to the patient and mutually determine ways to optimize their vision.

What staff involvement is there in utilizing the app?

One of my favorite features of the app is that any of our staff members can use it. My technicians have been trained to use it for all new toric and multifocal fits. They simply enter the patient’s most recent refraction into the app, and choose the first lens. If vision is satisfactory, they dilate the patient and I complete the rest of the exam. If vision needs improvement, I troubleshoot; then dilate. It keeps patient exams flowing without disruption.

Take us through a patient encounter in which you would utilize the app.

A 65-year-old patient, who failed multifocal contact lenses at a different practice, is a hyperopic presbyope with minimal astigmatism, therefore a non-toric multifocal lens would provide adequate vision. I determined her eye dominance, entered her updated refraction into the app, picked out lenses and put them on her eyes. She was unbelievably happy, and I gained a patient and all of her friends for life.

Give it a try

I encourage all optometrists to try the app. It’s truly been a game changer in my clinic! OM

Focus column author Micaela Crowley, O.D., explains how she used the app on a recent patient and demonstrates.

DR. CROWLEY practices comprehensive medical optometry at Lexington Eye Associates in Massachusetts. She focuses on dry eye disease, scleral contact lenses and difficult contact lens fits. She is a member of the Professional Advanced Consultant team at CooperVision, speaker and contributor to advisory boards related to contact lenses and dry eye disease.