There are many of you that are probably 'thinking about it' or are convinced it is a waste of valuable time and money.  It most certainly is not.

Yes, time is a precious commodity that cannot be managed, there will always be 24 hours in a day; that cannot be changed; however how we use the time is to a large extent under our control if we manage ourselves.  If by spending a little more time with your patients discussing the results of retinal imaging you may well retain a patient rather than losing a patient the dividends will pay handsomely when you consider the 'lifetime revenue' from that patient and his family. 

 Chair time is expensive, but consider it as an investment rather than an overhead - think about investing in a digital Slit Lamp and spend a little more time with your contact lens patients discussing their needs and possible their spectacle choice as well, grow your business from within the consulting room.

Thanks Chris - don't worry, your blog is in safe hands... or is it...

Seriously though, here at Keeler we are absolutely delighted to once again host the NonMyd photo competition and really look forward to the best part, the judging of the entries.

If this year follows the previous year's trends then the quality and quantity of entries will be better than ever

So why are we doing this? The honest answer is that it is fun to do.

I guess the Camera is one of the few devices in the consulting room or practice that is fun to use, is appreciated by patients, has a huge clinical benefit and in many instances is a cash generator for the business. And now all you need to do is to enter the competition to add 'goodies generator' to your camera's list of attributes!

Happy NonMydding

I wonder what on earth she's doing now?

Another boxer to sport a monocle was Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter whose wrongful imprisonment became a cause celebre thanks to Bob Dylan's protest song The Hurricane.

The King of Tuvalu is also reputed to be a wearer.

Fictional characters memorable for their monocles include Batman's nemesis The Penguin and Colonel Clink of Hogan's Heroes.

On one occasion Sergeant Wilson in Dad's Army became a monocle-wearer by operating a slide projector while sporting one.

Afterwards in private, Captain Mainwaring threatened to stop Wilson wearing the monocle, but Wilson responded by threatening to tell everyone that Mainwaring wore arch supports for his feet.

Despite being sure that Allo Allo featured a few monocled cast members, we discovered that neither General von Klinkerhoffen or Herr Otto Flick wore a monocle.

Forgive me if this entry is a bit brief but I have already created it once and it disappeared into cyberspace so I'm not best pleased.

Anyway with all this Olympic hysteria going on and British people winning medals willy nilly it seems opticians are joining in.

Since the Optician Ironman foray the team members (pictured) don't seem to be able to stop.

Since the original event there have been fell races, triathlons, dragon boat racing and all sorts of things.

To round the season off I have asked some of the South East based members of the team to join me in the Crawley Late Summer Triathlon. This will please VAO's. Jeremy Jalie. Crawley is local to him so he won't have to do all of the travelling supporting the team has so far involved. with his help the team raised £7,500 for VAO. If you haven't donated you can here . If you are in the Crawley area come along to K2 on September 21st and cheer us on.

Our list so far stands at New Zealand cricket captain, Daniel Vettori

Former Ajax, Juventus, Milan, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Tottenham and Holland midfield pitbull, Edgar Davids.

Horace Grant, a forward in the legendary Chicago Bulls team that included Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

And that's as far as we got aside from the rather predictable inclusions of former world snooker champion Dennis Taylor and former GB Olympic ski jumper Eddie the Eagle Edwards.

Any interesting photos of your own practice? Please email them to alex.thomas@rbi.co.uk

It is these people who may find the following photoshop tutorial about how to design a contact lens of interest or may even find some practical application for it.

As someone who works with words I take no pleasure in typographical errors. There are the obvious effects/affects, in optics the missing first 'h' in ophthalmology etc. Hong Kong is always worth a second look and we alsomost had a bit of pubic scrutiny in Optician last week.

This has to be one of the classics though.

Having recently enjoyed reading Portuguese author José Saramago's novel Blindness, I thought it worth a post as not only does it deal with a epidemic of ocular disorder on a grand scale but has also been made into a film that features Mark Ruffalo as a ophthalmologist.

The film version is directed by Fernando Meirelles, whose previous credits include City of God and The Constant Gardener, and also stars Julianne Moore as the only person left with sight after a wave of blindness and attendant chaos sweeps across a unspecified city.

Despite a lukewarm critical reception at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year, this is surely a must-see for optical folk?