New This Week
Multifocal CLs:
Comfort & Adaptation vs. Visual Performance
Mike Rothschild, OD, and Amir Khoshnevis, OD, discuss working with new designs of multifocal contact lenses that maximize patient success. Dr. Rothschild prefers a comfortable lens that can be easily fit, one that minimizes the repeated trial and error that patients dislike. Dr. Khoshnevis says visual performance is paramount in elevating patients beyond monovision and providing clear vision at all distances. This is part of an ROB video series, “Mike and Amir Agree to Agree…and Disagree.” >>READ MORE>>
Sunwear
Heat Up Sales: Prescribe Sunwear for All Patients
By Yoongie Min, OD
Ask all patients about their current sunwear and take the initiative as doctor to prescribe sunwear in the exam room. Doing so will protect patients’ eyes from ultra-violet radiation and expand optical shop sales.
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Finances
Plan How You Shop for New Office Space
By April L. Jasper, OD, FAAO
When shopping for new office space, list what you seek to achieve and then embark on a goal-oriented search. Taking factors such as patient volume, visibility of location and patient convenience into consideration will make your move a success.
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Social Media
Market Your Practice with Videos–On Your Own YouTube Channel
By Alan N. Glazier, OD, FAAO
A YouTube channel for your practice is easy to launch and will provide you with a new marketing platform introducing your practice to a new pool of prospective patients. Enable your patients to literally get the picture about what your practice has to offer.
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ROB Fast Fact
Your Patient’s Most Important Reason for Lens Choice?
Some 26.8 percent of consumers responding to The Vision Council’s VisionWatch June 2012 Member Benefit Report said doctor or retailer recommendation most guided their lens choice while 13.3 percent said they simply chose the lens they previously wore. Some 12.8 percent considered the way the lenses looked most important while 11.1 percent said price was the highest priority. Some 7.3 percent said they most wanted the best lens regardless of price while 6.7 percent most wanted adaptive lenses and 5.8 percent placed the most importance on lens material. The remaining consumer responses regarding most important priority in lens choice were not statistically significant enough to be charted in the survey.
Click HERE to read more from Review of Optometric Business professional editors Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD, and Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD, on the importance of doctor recommendation in patient ophthalmic lens selection.
In Brief
New Shamir In Touch: PAL for Handheld Devices
Shamir has launched In Touch, a new progressive addition lens for frequent users of handheld digital devices. The product premiered at Vision Expo West in Las Vegas. The lens, which is classified as an everyday Freeform lens, features an enhanced corridor that provides more add power faster for users of smartphones and e-tablets. The new lens is priced the same as Shamir’s premium Autograph II lens and provides ECPs with great opportunities to meet the fast- changing visual needs of patients, Shamir said. >>READ MORE>>
VISTAKON Rolls Out Educational Resource and Launches New ECP Web Site
To assist practitioners in helping new and current contact lens wearers better understand how to safely wear and care for their contacts, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. has developed Healthy Vision & Contact Lenses, a new educational resource for in-office, web site and social media use.
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ROB Poll Results
Readers Cite Challenge in Ensuring Patient Compliance in CL Wear & Care
Asked about the most challenging aspect of the contact lens area of their practice, 54 percent of ROB readers cited ensuring patient compliance in wear and care regimen. Twenty-three percent said convincing spectacle-only patients to give contact lenses a try was most difficult while 15 percent said they most struggled with preventing contact lens drop-outs. Eight percent said it was hardest getting patients to try new contact lens modalities.
