Star Power
A CL fitter to celebrities puts the spotlight on color contact lenses
By Greg O'Connor, OD

When it comes to eyecare fashion, Southern California celebrities are used to high quality. Whether it's dispensary furnishings with designer upholstery, high-end frames, or color contact lenses, people want what looks best.

If you think my view is skewed because more than half of my patients are actors, actresses, directors, producers, artists, and the like who live along the Pacific coast 30 miles west of hyper-fashion conscious Hollywood, stop. As much as show business would like the rest of the world to think of celebrities as different, they aren't when it comes to eyecare in general, and contact lenses in particular.

In fact, income (and some glitter) is the only real difference between celebrities and the rest of us. And since money is not an issue when it comes to color contacts, all that matters is what looks best.

At Malibu Eye Center, the staff helps patients find what looks best

FASHION'S FUNCTION

Only in the military does function trump fashion. In the early 1980s, I was part of the Navy medical corps taking care of Marines in the Mojave Desert. When I moved to Malibu, I quickly learned that part of my professional job was fashion. In brief, if I didn't offer the best in fashion, I'd be passed over for another practice.

With 60 percent of my 5,000 active patients in contact lenses and a third of that number wearing color lenses, color contacts have been a key to my practice success. Moreover, they are emblematic of some keys to practice success in general. Chief among these are: Don't pre-judge patients' ability to pay and their interest in fashion. Virtually anyone can afford color contact lenses. What's more, a huge percentage of your patients will want them--if they are presented as a fashion accessory that has your clinical stamp of approval.

THE VERY BEST

Because my patients recognize and value fashion, I recently had my sidewalk-accessible 1,500-square-foot office remodeled to include furniture custom upholstered in Versace fabric. A bit much, you wonder? When it comes to fashion, what you see and what you're seen in is all the same.

With my Midwestern roots, I initially never imagined how important fashion would be to my practice. But, based on my experience, I can confidently advise colleagues to appeal to their patients' fashion flair. This means offering the highest-end fashion frames.

I used to wonder who was going to spend $750 to $1,250 for a frame. Today, I offer custom frames that retail for as much as $1,200 per pair, and market color contacts inside and outside my office. While most patients aren't on a celebrity budget, try adding some high-fashion frames in a price point beyond what you consider the top category.

	Whether in Malibu or Montana, patients come to dispensaries wanting to look good

Provide the latest, finest fashions and you'll be pleasantly surprised to find there are people out there to buy them. The wish to look terrific is not just a celebrity thing.

Another key is to offer the best. When it comes to color contacts, this means what looks best on the patients. That's just as true in Malibu as in Kalamazoo. There have been a lot of color contact lenses over the years, and patients have always wanted what looks best.

When you reach for color contacts that allow you to meet or exceed patients' expectations, you're telling patients you care. To reach for anything less than the best in fashion can send a negative message.

CASTING CALL

Just as I don't assume who will opt for high-fashion frames, I don't try to stereotype my color contact lens candidates. Rather than limit the offering only to brown-eyed patients, I'm seeing that light-eyed patients are increasingly interested in the option. Patients with green and blue eyes want a slightly different blue or aqua, and like their dark-eye counterparts, they usually buy multiple colors at one time. Indeed, at some point in the not so distant future, I predict color lenses will be the norm.

To promote that outlook, we customize national advertising for color contact lenses for our local cable market. I also have full-page ads in the Robb Report, a publication that targets the very wealthy.

It's also important to invest in inventory. If patients can't conveniently get their contact lenses from my practice, they will get them from an alternative source.

Most of all, the personal touch is key. I believe patients come here to see the doctor. When a patient of 12 years came in the other day, the pop-rock celebrity in her early 40s wanted to change from handling tinted contact lenses to color lenses.

Making sure she's pleased with her new fashion statement is not just my job, but the job of everybody in my practice. So, as with all patients, I suggested some colors I thought would look good. Then I turned her over to a staff member.

Make the try-on process fun, fast, and cost effective, recommends Greg O'Connor, OD, shown here with a patient

But, I always make a point of taking a break and offering a compliment before the patient leaves. It's sincere. We wouldn't let patients out of the practice if they didn't look stylish. In the case of this singer, she was as thrilled as a little kid--excited and happy. She liked the way she looked in her new contact lenses.

That sums up my straightforward practice philosophy, which is to strive every day to make my practice better. I never take anything for granted. My staff has the same philosophy, which effectively is my protection from competition. At Malibu Eye Center, we cater to our patients' wants and needs. Patients tell us that every day.

I don't trade on the fact that half of my patients are from show business. In fact, I guard the privacy of my celebrity patients. You won't find photos, signatures, or movie business paraphernalia from actors, directors, producers, and writers in my practice.

In fact, you won't find any movie business paraphernalia from any of the Hollywood set designers, animators, or techies who are among my patients.

Celebrities simply don't stick out in my practice because there are so many of them. Moreover, they appreciate being cared for like anybody else--with respect, enthusiasm, quality service, and quality products.