Contact lens programs/database?

[cme2c]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Still do the occasional contact lens fit for friends, otherwise avoid them. Has anyone seen a PDA program that has a list of contact lens brands, available base curves,etc. It would seem pretty easy for someone to develop a PDA program with that info.

P.S. : If anyone does this after seeing this , I expect a cut.

 

[KHE]

Still do the occasional contact lens fit for friends, otherwise avoid them. Has anyone seen a PDA program that has a list of contact lens brands, available base curves,etc. It would seem pretty easy for someone to develop a PDA program with that info.

P.S. : If anyone does this after seeing this , I expect a cut.

There's a publication called Tyler's Quarterly that lists all manufacturers and types of soft lenses but if you're doing fittings that sporadically, it's probably too much info.

I would recommend that you log onto the coopervision website and download their pdf file of all of their lenses. They're one of the larger contact lens companies and they have a very wide range of different materials, base curves, multifocals, colors, silicone etc. etc. And their pdf spells out the parameter ranges really easily. For the type of work that you're doing, they'll have what you need 99.99% of the time.

 

[JMK2005]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=667045&highlight=contact+lens

 

[cme2c]

The OD I work with gives me an old Tylers every six months or so and I had already downloaded CLS when you posted it (Thank you JMK). The .pdf on the PDA is not easy to use do to the smaller screen. Tylers is a pain due to the lack of a decent index for someone like me who does the infrequent fits. If someone comes in with a lens I'm not familiar with, it takes a while to find what category, etc. Something easily searchable would seem pretty easy to do. Including the store brand names would be nice too as I seem to be seeing more and more of the rebranded lenses.

 

[JMK2005]

For most patients, the spherical and toric sections are enough. If they come in with store brands, I'd just switch them to whatever the current popular lens is anyways. That's preferable since they can get a trial pair to try out their new Rx.

 

[cme2c]

I would love to switch everyone , but must be my cheap friends . They all seem to balk at the cost of switching to the newer lenses, especially when they are doing great with the cheaper lens. The other docs in my practice seem bent on stocking only the newer lenses for trials. Heck our sets change every year with the flavor of the month. First Advance, then Oasys...... it's a racket if you ask me. I appreciate the safety profile of a higher DK lens, etc, but my experience is that if they are paying double for a lens they will often cut corners and wear it longer, etc which has it's own risk. I suppose I could convince them to get a couple sets of more affordable lens options, but hard to justify with my small volume.

Side question, if you switch someone from their good ole store-bought Soflens 38, etc to a different lens, do you make them come back in a couple weeks to recheck? I always have , which is another hurdle to switching them from their current lens. It's not unusual for a patient to have a different fit on that follow-up so I have continued to do it, what do others do?

 

[jefguth]

I would love to switch everyone , but must be my cheap friends . They all seem to balk at the cost of switching to the newer lenses, especially when they are doing great with the cheaper lens. The other docs in my practice seem bent on stocking only the newer lenses for trials. Heck our sets change every year with the flavor of the month. First Advance, then Oasys...... it's a racket if you ask me. I appreciate the safety profile of a higher DK lens, etc, but my experience is that if they are paying double for a lens they will often cut corners and wear it longer, etc which has it's own risk. I suppose I could convince them to get a couple sets of more affordable lens options, but hard to justify with my small volume.

Side question, if you switch someone from their good ole store-bought Soflens 38, etc to a different lens, do you make them come back in a couple weeks to recheck? I always have , which is another hurdle to switching them from their current lens. It's not unusual for a patient to have a different fit on that follow-up so I have continued to do it, what do others do?

The fit shouldn't change by much, but if they've been wearing the lens for a number of hours it will look different from when it was just inserted. There's also the possibility that you'll have to adjust the power if there is a vision complaint. The other consideration is that they may have a comfort complaint with new lenses. So yes i generally require a 1-2 week follow up.