Retaining contact lens patients remains a significant problem for optical practices, with the over-50s and men proving to be more likely to drop out than younger and female wearers.
Despite this, practices often do not contact patients in the early days of wear to support them with their first experiences of lens wear.
These are among the findings of a survey on contact lens retention conducted by Optician on behalf of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care among 502 optical professionals earlier this month.
The research showed that 48 per cent of those asked, which included optometrists (64 per cent), dispensing opticians (19 per cent), and contact lens opticians (13 per cent), believed that retaining contact lens patients was a very or fairly significant problem.
On average optical professionals expect to lose a quarter of their contact lens patients in the first year. The research indicated a number of disparate reasons for this, including contact lens materials, modalities, comfort, poor vision correction, gender, lifestyle and price. Contact lens material was ranked the most important factor in comfort by optical professionals.
Nearly three-quarters of those quizzed (72 per cent) said the over-50s were the group most likely to drop out, while four times as many (40 per cent vs 9 per cent) thought men were more likely to drop out than women.
Practitioners are also fairly sceptical about the compliance exercised by their patients. Of those questioned just 22 per cent thought their patients were compliant with their cleaning and care regimes and just 26 per cent thought their patients were compliant with wear times. Most practitioners linked noncompliance in cleaning, wear time and replacement with complications.
Despite the scale of dropouts, just 13 per cent of practices routinely contact new wearers to support them in the early days of wear. The majority of practices (56 per cent) also devolve in-practice contact lens teaching to optical assistants and support staff.
Opinions over whether dropout rates had increased or decreased differed. Some cited an ageing population and an increased choice of correction options for higher dropout. Others suggested dropout had decreased due to better materials and a wider choice of lenses.
? A full report on the survey will be published in Optician shortly.