Booming CL Growth
Focusing on CL options for baby boomers
By Karlen McClean ABOC, NCLC

Boomers and seniors have the inclination and the income to opt for sophisticated CLs

It's said you lose flexibility as you get older. But today's contact lens options for the over-40 set are so flexible that it's sometimes difficult to get a handle on all that the marketplace has to offer baby boomers and senior citizens.

Boomers and seniors are a demanding yet loyal clientele who will pay for products and services if they understand the features and benefits. Taking extra time with CL consultation and fitting, keeping your patients' visual needs in mind, and focusing on comfort and convenience will have patients in this age group spending their dollars with you.

BABY STEPS

Starting out on the right foot with boomers is crucial to getting and keeping them as patients. Roy Kline, OD, of Drs. Kline & Boyd in Glens Falls, N.Y., begins with a patient history that covers work, home, hobbies, sports, and other lifestyle details.

"Our technicians take a thorough history so that I can pick out what I'll address with the patient. The tech gets the appropriate lenses and talks with the patient about the lenses," Kline says.

Keeping it simple and steady is a goal for Jon Walker, OD, of Dr. Brink and Associates in Jacksonville, Fla., whose office fits about 10 multifocal CL patients a week. At the practice, boomer patients have three choices: Distance vision with reading glasses, monovision, or multifocals.

"I call multifocals 'selective vision,' and give an example of looking across a field and seeing the grass, but not seeing the deer, or seeing the deer and not seeing the grass. I set up patient expectations by presenting information this way," Walker says.

	PHOTO COURTESY OF CIBA VISION

Use in-office conversations and lifestyle questionnaires to identify one particular need in regards to the contact lenses. For example, "With a working mom, I focus on convenience and may go with a two-week or monthly wearing schedule. For someone who plays sports, I focus on visual clarity," Kline says.

The office determines whether the patient is a previous or new contact lens wearer and reassesses their needs. "If they are an existing lens wearer and a new presbyope, I often fit them in monovision in new materials that offer one month of wear," Kline adds.

Addressing patients' wearing goals is an important step for Susan Resnick, OD, of Drs. Farkas, Kassalow, Resnick & Associates, PC, in New York City and Roslyn, N.Y. "Do they want social or full-time wear? Have they worn lenses before, and how presbyopic are they?" she asks. "There is an intense desire to remain and appear young. Boomers' increasing dependence upon reading glasses and the need to start using them in the first place creates resistance and denial."

MEDICAL AND BEYOND

As with any modality, fitting boomers and seniors in CLs requires finesse, especially when addressing medical and visual concerns.

"After a thorough history and evaluation, we assess lifestyle needs and determine which materials and modality will best address those needs, Resnick notes. "I aim for the simplest approach that satisfies the patient's needs."

Some of the options follow.

• Daily disposable multifocal on one eye. Suitable for an emerging emmetropic presbyope.
• Translating oxygen-permeable bifocal. Appropriate for a current RGP wearer with a high visual demand.
• Daily disposables in mono-vision. Suited to a new, moderately presbyopic emmetrope.
• Two-week disposable center near aspheric design. For an existing myopic soft lens wearer who is an emerging presbyope. Resnick also suggests considering a higher add on the non-dominant eye.
• Monthly disposable concentric design bifocal. For a highly presbyopic myope or hyperope.
• Back surface or front surface aspheric design. For existing GP wearers.

When fitting multifocals, Walker cautions against bumping up the add power unnecessarily. "We won't fit a high add power too soon, because it makes patient adaptation difficult if not impossible," Walker says.

"I look more at patient age. I typically fit +1.50D add up to 54 years, +2.00D over 54 years, and hardly ever use +2.50D," he adds.

RECOMMENDING, SELLING

Remember that you may not be able to solve all the patients' problems with a multifocal CL. As a result, auxiliary eyewear may be needed for certain tasks.

"My wife is a nurse and she likes her multifocal CLs except for when she reads small print or takes blood--about 15 minutes of her daily visual experience," Walker notes. "We got her readers for over her CLs for fine details, and she's happy with that solution."

Savvy doctors realize that it doesn't take much time or effort to make informed chair-side recommendations to patients. And focusing on a contact lens specialty--especially in the boomer demographic--makes a practice stand out from the pack and helps bring in revenue.

"Contact lens fitting allows you to break away from managed care, because CLs are a specialty situation," Kline points out. Plus, "the boomer demographic has money and will spend it if the reason for spending it is explained well."

Taking the time to correctly determine mulitfocal requirements and train for usages is key to patient satisfaction
Spending a little extra time on CL consultation and fitting can create a loyal following of CL patients in the boomer and senior demographics IMAGES COURTESY OF VISTAKON