As eye care practitioners, we are vision people. Our goal: Provide our patients with the very best vision we can at all times. Although were likely going to be limited by the cortical potential of the human brain, we will apply various new strategies to improve or enhance vision in the very near future.
Thats why we have chosen to concentrate on the quest to achieve so-called super vision for our 29th Annual Contact Lens Report.
One day, perhaps, we will instill an eye drop and form a new custom contact lens for our patients or continue to improve artificial cornea technology.
For now, however, we have other options. Here are some of the things youll find in this issue:
A look at the field of wavefront technology and how we can include this technology in current and future modes of vision correction, including custom-designed contact lenses. Weve already made great strides in understanding and applying wavefront-guided technology in the past five to 10 years. But, much work remains, and were just beginning to realize the limitations that await us in applying this technology to current and future modes of correction.
A look at existing contact lenses designed to correct spherical aberrations and customized lenses that will soon be available to your practice. Can they offer patients super vision? Well look at the advantages of these lenses.
A close look at the tear film and how to enhance tear film quality. We must improve the tear film not only to ensure patient comfort, but also to provide patients with high-quality vision. Without a stable tear film, visual potential will degrade dramatically.
Some advice to help you to Take Back Your Contact Lens Practice. As many as half of all contact lens patients may be purchasing their contact lenses from someplace other than their eye doctors office, according to Jobson Optical Research. How high is that number in your office? Timothy Milburn, O.D., describes a formula that can help you analyze, and perhaps improve, your annual contact lens sales. After all, we dont want lost patients to limit us any more than human cortical potential.
Dr. Shovlin is coordinator of this months special report and is associate clinical editor of Review of Optometry. He is in private practice in Scranton, Pa.
