VEW: Creating a contact lens culture in your practice

Charissa Lee, OD, MBA, FAAO, with the Contact Lens Institute, sat down with Optometry Times®' assistant managing editor Emily Kaiser Maharjan to touch on research presented in collaboration with The Vision Council.

The Contact Lens Institute and The Vision Council previewed their forthcoming report, “The Culture Calculation: Data-Backed Behaviors for Contact Lens Success,” which will have additional reporting categories and analysis, will be published in mid-October 2023.

Editor's note: This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Emily Kaiser Maharjan:

Hi, everyone, I'm Emily Kaiser Maharjan with Optometry Times, and I'm sitting down with Dr. Charissa Lee of the Contact Lens Institute, who is presenting research on the secrets of building a contact lens culture alongside the Vision Council at Vision Expo West 2023 in Las Vegas. Welcome, Dr. Lee. I'm so glad you could join us.

Charissa Lee, OD, MBA, FAAO:

Great, thank you for having me, Emily.

Kaiser Maharjan:

First, can you tell me a little bit more about how the Contact Lens Institute has been digging into building a contact lens culture?

Lee:

At the Contact Lens Institute, one of the things that we look into, first of all, is healthy wear and care of contact lenses. But secondly, also how we can build opportunities—because we do know that consumers and patients out there really love wearing their contacts, and where are the opportunities for practices across the I care community where they can leverage these insights?

Kaiser Maharjan:

Can you tell us more about the data that will be presented at Vision Expo West alongside the Vision Council?

Lee:

Some of the research that we've been doing in last year, and the beginning of this year has been focused around consumers. So what's the consumer perception around contact lenses and glasses? This research, we really wanted to focus—I'll say internally—into our own community. We surveyed over 170 eye care professionals across the US to see what can make a positive contact lens culture in your practice.

Kaiser Maharjan:

What are some of the key takeaways from that data that you want to drive home?

Lee:

Well, I'll say the biggest takeaway that I saw was opportunity. So, opportunity for our practices to grow, opportunity to improve patient lives and enhance them simply by offering contact lenses.

Kaiser Maharjan:

What does this mean for optometrists who are coming to the talk? What can they take home take back to their clinics?

Lee:

Well, one of the really great things that we're going to have with our visionary panel at Vision Expo West is some of their insights and how they create positive contact lens cultures within their own practice. One of the data points that we saw was that doctors and staff are really excited; most of them think that they have a very positive contact lens culture. 94% [of doctors] actually say that their practices have positive contact lens culture, but only 84% say that they encourage the majority of their patients to consider [contact lenses]. [That]'s a 10-point difference, which does seem to match with our previous surveys with consumers, because two thirds of the patients that we surveyed said they don't recall any of the staff or doctors offering them contact lenses, even though 44% of glasses wearers said they were interested. So again, going back to opportunity, that's a huge opportunity in any practice.

Kaiser Maharjan:

Does this data, change your outlook on the future of contact lenses?

Lee:

I think, you know, just creating awareness. So that's one of the things that we want to bring with the panel is awareness of some of the statistics that we see from the surveys, and then opportunities of doctors on the panel sharing what they do in their practices, some of those tips and tricks that they use with their staff and other doctors to share amongst our peers.

Kaiser Maharjan:

What are the next steps in this research?

Lee:

So there's more to come. There's a lot of data points I shared—just the high high level, there's more research that we're digging into, and the full report will be available in October.

Kaiser Maharjan:

Fantastic. Well, I'm really looking forward to reading that. And thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me today, Dr. Lee, and I'm so excited to hear that report in October.

Lee:

Thanks, Emily.