HELPING SPECIALTY LENS WEARERS SUCCEED DURING THE PANDEMIC

摘要

The?year 2020 will forever be remembered as more than symbolic for perfect vision. The surreal circumstances that encompass our daily lives today as a result of the novel coronavirus and its resulting COVID-19 respiratory disease are neither desired nor deserved. However, they are a fact of life, and we therefore need to work together to make it through these challenging times. It’s during times such as these when we realize who our true friends are. Fortunately, with regard to providing care to our specialty contact lens patients—who frequently are individuals who cannot survive visually without their contact lens correction—our true friends are often the independent contact lens laboratories that manufacture GP, hybrid, and custom soft lenses.??This article is a companion to another feature in Contact Lens Spectrum?titled “Weathering the COVID-19 Storm,” and it presents information derived from several sources:?1) An online forum of 17 key opinion leaders in specialty contact lenses, who are acknowledged at the conclusion of this article.??2) Two separate surveys sent by the authors to independent contact lens laboratories. The first sought information on how labs are currently working with eyecare providers (ECPs) during this pandemic, knowing that ECPs are primarily seeing only urgent cases at this time and so income is significantly reduced to both ECPs and laboratories. The second asked what changes the labs have made to ensure sterility and to minimize the risk that COVID-19 can be spread to employees, contact lens materials, ECPs and their staff, and ultimately to patients.??Additional Resourceshttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html?https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html?https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/businesses-employers.html?https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdfEXTENDED WARRANTIESFor patients who—for good reason—have been recently fit into specialty contact lenses, both the patients and the ECPs may feel a high degree of anxiety about the lens warranties that are provided by the laboratories to the respective ECPs; these warranties are then typically transferred to the patients.??Laboratories are making it clear to ECPs that they understand this dilemma for recently fitted patients and are extending their warranties to reassure both ECPs and patients. This extension can range up to an additional two to four months, with consideration to extend this time period further depending upon when a practice reopens for routine eye care. All key opinion leaders were very complimentary of how their laboratories were working with them to help them through this unanticipated and uncertain period of time.