Keyur Patel and Brian Tompkins don their Love Your Lenses Week t-shirts
Love Your Lenses Week took place on September 4-10 and saw 233 optical practices highlight the role contact lenses could play in improving patients’ lives.
The campaign has been led by the British Contact Lens Association (BCLA) since 2021 when it took over responsibilities from the General Optical Council.
It sought to share messages about the importance of safe and healthy contact lens wear by encouraging optical practices to download an online resource pack.
Luke Stevens-Burt, chief executive of the BCLA, said: ‘We were delighted to see the response from eye care professionals around the world who joined this year’s Love Your Lenses campaign. In total, we had 233 practices register from more than 30 different countries, making it a truly global campaign.
‘Practices really engaged with the campaign, wearing t-shirts, displaying posters and using the resources given to them to deliver the important safety messages around compliance and aftercare of contact lenses.
‘We saw practices make the most of the campaign messaging and use it as an opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of safe and healthy contact lens wear.
‘We are grateful to Johnson & Johnson Vision for their sponsorship and all the practices that engaged with us during the week to deliver a successful campaign.’
Spreading the message
TK&S Optometrists in Northampton displayed the BCLA’s posters and wore Love Your Lenses Week t-shirts to highlight the campaign in practice.
Dr Keyur Patel, optometrist and practice director at TK&S Optometrists, told Optician: ‘We used it as a tool to engage patients in conversations about contact lenses, whether that’s potentially trying them for the first time or as a reminder on how to safely care for their contact lenses.
‘Brian Tompkins [optometrist and practice director] was in South Africa for a contact lens conference during the week so used that as an opportunity to spread the message further, incorporating it into social media content, which we shared on the practice’s platforms.’
The practice regularly makes use of the BCLA’s resources, such as the No Water stickers and tear-off pads that highlight the do’s and don’ts of contact lens wear.
‘The pens, posters and t-shirts all served as important visual reminders of the week and the importance of discussing contact lenses with appropriate patients,’ Patel said.
TK&S offers a comprehensive range of contact lens options and promotes them as a viable option for all patients. This includes standard daily disposables, orthokeratology and specialist solutions, such as sclerals and bespoke EyePrint Pro lenses.
‘Contact lenses are a huge part of our practice, particularly specialist lenses, such as sclerals, where we are one of the leading practices in the country. Our patients tend to be very well-versed in their lenses as we take the time to explain everything to them throughout the process.
‘Love Your Lenses Week is a good opportunity to follow-up on some of those messages and make sure they are following the suggested aftercare routine to keep themselves safe and comfortable in their lenses.
‘We are passionate about contact lenses and are huge advocates of the BCLA’s Love Your Lenses campaign. We look forward to seeing it continue to grow and develop in the future,’ Patel added.
Gentle reminders
Tony Lawrence, dispensing optician at the Vision Centre in Gloucester (pictured right), told Optician that his practice was proactive about contact lenses and participating in the campaign seemed like an obvious thing to do.
‘Our two regular optometrists always promote contact lenses to patients when they come in for eye examinations if they’ve not tried them before. We promoted Love Your Lenses Week on social media and used the BCLA’s pack.
‘We used the images and used their wording as a template, which I added to. We try to be active on social media and when I saw it was Love Your Lenses Week, I downloaded the material and decided to use it,’ Lawrence said.
The Vision Centre in Gloucester has a range of contact lens solutions, including regular contact lenses, myopia management with soft lenses and ortho-k.
‘We’re informed regularly that nowhere near enough people who have a full-time spectacle correction have tried contact lenses, so the campaign can help us break down barriers and encourage them.
‘Secondly, the messages are important reminders to long standing contact lens wearers who might have become less compliant than they should be with regards to caring for lenses properly. There are reminders about not wearing contact lenses in water, for example.
‘We want to keep you in lenses for as long as possible so it’s a gentle reminder that not adhering to professional guidance can result in them not being able to wear lenses,’ Lawrence added.