Marketing and education for the corneal inlay patient
Adding the corneal inlay into a general or refractive surgery practice can be a great benefit to patients and the practice when done correctly.
By Luke Rebenitsch, MD, Special to Ophthalmology Times
Dr. RebenitschFor more than two decades, ClearSight Center has been a vision correction practice. It began in the radial keratotomy (RK) days and quickly switched to LASIK and PRK when they became available.
With the FDA approval of a corneal inlay (Kamra, AcuFocus) and now the Raindrop inlay (ReVision Optics), the entire presbyopia market has just begun to open up. We have recognized this opportunity and are now including the inlay and refractive lens exchange as surgical options for presbyopia, and the practice has benefitted with tremendous growth.
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Presbyopia currently affects about 1.7 billion people worldwide, a number that is expected to grow to 2.1 billion by the year 2020.1,2
Until now, this has been a vastly underdeveloped market as there was a scarcity of treatment options. While the presbyopia market is growing, it is not nearly as robust as the LASIK market. This is due in large part to the fact that while most people have heard of LASIK or PRK and understand the concept of utilizing lasers for vision correction, very few know about presbyopia and the use of inlays. In fact, about 75% of the patients who present in the office need to be educated on presbyopia and the options for treatment.
More:
Since we started offering the inlay, I make sure that 100% of patients that come to our office are educated in presbyopia and treatment options available-both for their own betterment and so they can pass along the knowledge to others.
Staff education
Having an educated staff plays a significant role in the ability to educate patients. Staff should be fully versed in the anatomical changes behind presbyopia, how the pinhole effect works, and how monovision differs from inlays. This is especially important for those who are not yet presbyopic or who may never have heard of presbyopia.
Recent:
A commitment to educating patients about presbyopia and providing premier treatment options for it is fully ingrained in our staff. It is just as important as LASIK, refractive lens exchange, or any other refractive procedure. By the time I see a presbyopia-aged patient, I now expect to have had at least two or three people have the conversation with that patient about the KAMRA inlay and other presbyopia-correcting surgical options. Keeping privacy in mind, previous successes are often passed on as well. This internal marketing has been of the utmost importance.
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