lens tips
Boomers, the Aging Eye, and YOU
Perhaps the most significant trend affecting eyecare is the aging of America. According to the "I Can See Clearly Now Notebook" (available by calling 800-848-1506), the average life span was only 47 years in 1900. Today, it is 77 years and continues to extend.
For the first time in this country, we have six living generations in a population of 300 million. The largest of these groups is the baby boomer segment, those born between 1946 and 1964.
Baby boomers are especially conscious of the importance of maintaining good health, including good vision. Healthy sight is their priority. As a result, Healthy Sight Counseling has become one of the best stories you can tell. Following are several key points regarding boomers and the aging eye and how you can tap this huge category of consumers.
| AR AND AGING |
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| By eliminating glare and reflections, AR lenses will let in more light and control the light entering the eye. That's especially important for older patients, because, as we age, less light enters the eye. As a result, small print, low light situations, and driving at night are problems. Those problems are exacerbated by the fact that, without AR, the average uncoated spectacle lens reflects up to 12 percent of light. The answer? Photochromics and AR lenses. |
■ HEALTH FEAR. According to an April 11, 2007, "USA Today" poll, the number-one health fear was loss of vision.
Now that healthy sight has become a major concern, boomers want ECPs who can provide them with healthy sight now and in the future. That means ECPs must both correct and protect.
■ CARE GIVERS. With 14 million boomers serving as primary caregivers for elderly parents or in-laws, they see firsthand what happens to their loved ones when they lose their vision. This awareness has brought vision care and preserving vision to the top of boomers' health care concerns.
■ HEALTH SAVVY. Baby boomers are fast becoming educated about health. Some of the most recent best-selling "how-to" books for this generation have to do with managing money, health, and future. They now see all three of these connected. As a result, they are looking for someone who can "partner" with them to help in each of these categories.
Eyecare practitioners must educate these patients about all they can provide to help restore, maintain, and enhance vision.
■ PATIENT EDUCATION. Educating patients about the complexity of their vision system creates value, not only in the sense of vision, but also in an ECP's expertise.
■ YEAR BY YEAR. By age 50, the average patient will have trouble reading small print, as well as seeing at night and in low light conditions.
They may have problems with glare, floaters, and dry eye—plus high blood pressure and diabetes, both of which contribute to blindness.
By age 65, half of patients will have cataracts.
By 75, one in three will develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness among the elderly. EB
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