EYECARE FAQ
OA CORNER PART 5
SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS: DON’T FORGET TO ‘BE SOCIAL’
OUR AMAZING EYES
ften companies forget that social media is all about actually being social. Take time to ‘like’ comments, reply to them, and interact with your followers. Don’t be afraid to jump in on conversations on Twitter or like your followers’ pictures on Instagram and leave a comment. They will stop interacting if you don’t interact back. Time is precious – but if you want your social media to flourish then you need to build the time in your working day. It doesn’t have to take long, and your team members could take turns to respond. On Eyecare FAQ in May, we will be covering contact lenses, sunglasses and congenital eye disease. Find Q&As on more eyecare and eyewear topics on Eyecare FAQ. You can also find EyecareFAQ on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
O
In this month’s Optical Assistant (OA) Corner, Sue Deal asks: what do I need to know about eyes and how we see? The eye and the visual system are amazing, with more than 100 million rod cells and six million cone cells present in the retina alone. These cells send light signals via the optic nerve along the visual pathway and to the visual cortex in the brain. Learn more about the visual system and the functions of different structures of the eye, including the cornea, crystalline lens, iris, vitreous humour, aqueous humour and its role in the onset of glaucoma. Read OA Corner Part 5 in full on DO Online – and find out what makes our eyes so extraordinary.
BUSINESS BITES
REVITALISING YOUR CONTACT LENS BUSINESS With Mintel* reporting that the contact lens market declined by an estimated 19 per cent in 2020, now could be the time to look at how you approach this important part of your patient offer. One way to develop your contact lens practice is to increase the number of patients you talk to about occasional use. For each patient you need to find the occasion when spectacles are a pain. Ask about their hobbies, their work and if they go to the gym – and how their specs are for that particular activity. This gives you a way to start a conversation about contact lenses. Do you discuss contact lenses with every patient? It may be time to alter your way of thinking and give contact lenses equal prominence, rather than assuming specs are the first choice. Contact lens patients will need both specs and contact lenses, and generally are loyal, returning patients. These are all reasons to ensure that contact lenses and spectacles as options for vision correction are proactively mentioned where appropriate.
Another area where your practice may be missing out is children and contact lenses. With increasing evidence showing the benefits of contact lenses for myopia control, parents and children may be motivated by reducing the progression of myopia. They may also like the idea that their child can play games and sports without specs. Offer the option of contact lenses, explore the parents’ and child’s interests and beliefs about contact lenses, and you can help them develop a better understanding of why they are a good option and how they can help. Presbyopes offer a similar chance to increase the scope of your contact lens practice. We now have a range of multifocal products that work better than anything we have had in the past. Presbyopic contact lens wearers are loyal too. A good opening question to start a conversation about contact lenses could be: “Tell me when your glasses annoy you”. It might be going out in the rain or playing golf. You could then say: “Well, there’s something you can do about that”. Another friendly introductory question might be to ask about any events they have coming up. People may be interested in contact lenses for their own wedding anniversary or their child’s wedding. *Mintel, Optical Good Retailing UK, March 2021 MAY 2021 DISPENSING OPTICS
33