EASY online learning event to promote contact lens compliance

The Contact Lens Institute hosted members of the eye care community from the United States, Canada, and beyond in March to discuss a persistent question: how can practitioners encourage better contact lens compliance among patients? The online learning event, Making Contact Lens Compliance Stick: EASY Insights, Tips & Tools, is now available for on demand viewing by clicking here.

Contact Lens Institute Board Chairperson Bill Reindel, OD, MS, and Board Member Michele Andrews, OD, were joined by Drs. Chris Lievens, Southern College of Optometry; Mark Schaeffer, MyEyeDr; Bridgitte Shen Lee, Vision Optique; and Jason Tu, Invision Optometry for the one-hour webinar.

A post-event survey of participants revealed that for most practices, compliance with healthy wear and care guidance was observed in only 40-80% of patients, which corresponds to other published research. The results also highlighted an opportunity to invest more time discussing healthy wear and care practices during in-office visits with existing contact lens wearers.

The high-energy, on-camera conversation spanned a range of considerations that could lead to more ideal contract lens handling, including understanding patient-specific variables that can drive poor habits, proper hand hygiene instruction, and the selection of modalities and materials matched to individual lifestyles. Simplicity was also a common point raised by the panelists—a factor at the heart of the Contact Lens Institute’s EASY Way initiative.

The EASY Way (Eyes, Awareness, Safety and You) program was developed to help the eye care community promote healthy contact lens wear and care habits among patients in an informative, memorable, and straightforward way. It includes a set of simplified tips, attention-grabbing infographics, and companion digital resources for use in practices, all available at EASYWayProgram.org.

“National consumer research found the EASY Way’s three steps to healthy, comfortable contact lens wear easy to understand and easy to recall by patients,” said Dr. Reindel. “Our work to introduce the program to the eye care community is likewise proving effective. We are encouraged that 100% of webinar attendees rated the event as valuable. The post-webinar survey also indicated that once exposed to The EASY Way, 96% of attendees will likely begin using the ideas and materials in their practices.”

The Contact Lens Institute advances the latest innovations in safe and effective contact lens and lens care products and services that provide unique benefits to patients while satisfying the evolving needs of eye care professionals. CLI undertakes activities that properly assess, enhance, promote and balance contact lens and lens care industry welfare and growth, including the safe use of products in the marketplace. Its members include Alcon, Bausch + Lomb, CooperVision, and Johnson & Johnson Vision.

For more information, visit contactlensinstitute.org.