Ten years ago, I was asked by Alcon to chair a round table. The aim was to gather a range of health professionals and industry experts together in order to hear their views and experiences with dry eye disease and its management. What was notable was the surprise among the ophthalmologists, GPs and pharmacists present when the optometrists (Caroline Christie, James Wolffsohn, even me) started discussing different types of dry eye disease and individual management plans. The GPs and pharmacists, in particular, were not only unaware of the various tests we use but didn’t know that there was anything to be done other than giving drops. ‘I just give everyone hypromellose,’ said one GP.
Roll forward five years, and I attended a similar event organised by a well-known pharmaceutical company known for its fondness for witch hazel. Other than me and Shelley Bansal, everyone else present was a pharmacist and it soon became clear that the main aim of the debate was to decide how best to help pharmacists manage ‘dry eye customers’. I held back from shouting ‘buy a slit lamp!’ but was frustrated by the dismissal of ECPs as perhaps the best people to address this increasing patient market.
This week’s issue has a dry eye theme as increasing numbers of ECPs are now developing specialised, dedicated dry eye clinics. That said, as Sarah Farrant pointed out recently at the BCLA virtual conference (see page 10), ‘most lubricants sold in the UK are direct to patients from pharmacies.’ Changing environments, increasing age, more multifocal contact lens prescribing, lockdown screen use; this is such an open goal and we can all make a real difference. As cited in our CET on page 26, ‘DED has been shown to have a similar impact on quality of life to that of moderate to severe angina.’
We can help; but as some readers imply in this week's Contact Lens Discomfort interactive, some ECPs still need convincing.