By Amir Khoshnevis, OD 
In recent years, we’ve seen a dramatic improvement in contact lens multifocal technology. Our success levels are higher than ever, but we still see too many marginally satisfied patients asking for further enhancement of their distance or near vision. Most of us have learned all the tricks in the book to achieve better vision, but it often comes at a price; sacrificing distance for near and vice versa.
We can’t completely avoid some of this fine-tuning, butI have a real-world solution for a particular patient we’re seeing more of each day: the patient who is constantly on a handheld device. If the patient is happy with distance vision, but complains of blurred vision while texting or e-mailing on their mobile phone,the problem may be with the phone, not the multifocal contact lenses.
Three tips for improving the vision of constant texters:
Use their phone to test near vision. This one is a proactive step during the initial evaluation (fit): Instead of using a reading card to evaluate NVA,askthe patient to pull out their trusted iPhone or Android device (is there anything else anymore?) and read from it. This will give you a far better and more realistic measure of their near-vision performance and satisfaction when they leave your office.
Increase brightness. Ask your patient to select the “Settings” icon on their phone, then “Brightness,” and then pounce on the opportunity to slide the brightness meter all the way to high! When you go back to their e-mail or text screen, you’ll hear a nice “wow” from the patient. Now, a few patients will complain about battery life, but you can easily convince them to choose enhanced vision over standby time. Trust me, most patients have the setting set too low and are completely unaware.
Lose the dreaded screen protector. The other observation I’ve made is that patients tend to overvalue not scratching the screen and undervalue clarity and contrast. In fact, they will keep the same screen protector on the phone to a point where seeing the screen is nearly impossible! My iPhone is in the “naked state” (no cover, no protector…nada) for this very reason. I pull out my phone to show them the difference in quality of vision versus their heavily scratched, coated, oily, bubbly screen protector. It takes just about 7 seconds before the patient is clawing away at the edge of their protector in order to rip it off. I must admit, I really love this “OMG!” moment.
I hope these simple tips will help you improve your multifocal contact lens patient satisfaction and also help you have a little fun playing Doctor Magic.
What other real-world advice do you have for multifocal contact lens patients using their smartphones? Do you have any fun tricks for helping patients manage their visual needs while wearing multifocal contact lenses?
Amir Khoshnevis, OD, founded Carolina Family Eye Care in 2003. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and is a Vision Source Administrator. Dr. Khoshnevis serves as a Professional Development Consultant for Alcon and lectures nationally on practice management topics. He also serves as a national committee member for Optometry Giving Sight, an organization he wishes to promote in his bio (humor never hurts). To contact him: drk@carolinafamilyeyecare.com.
