PUBLICATION EXCLUSIVE: Increased premium cataract surgery options boost outcomes, conversions

The premium IOL landscape has expanded dramatically in recent years with the advent of new multifocal, trifocal, toric and accommodating lenses and, most recently, an extended depth of focus lens. Cataract surgeons now have more opportunities to maximize visual outcomes and increase the rate at which patients choose premium IOLs over standard monofocal implants.

Regardless of the type of implant used, patient satisfaction hinges on the accuracy of refractive outcomes, according to Uday Devgan, MD, Healio.com/OSN Section Editor.

“It has been shown in many studies that the No. 1 predictor of postop patient happiness, particularly with premium lenses but with any lens, is the ability to nail the specific refractive outcome, and usually that’s plano,” Devgan said.

Maximizing conversion rates depends on marketing and delivering optimal results, Jack T. Holladay, MD, MSEE, FACS, OSN Optics Section Editor, said.

“It’s basically marketing your practice. The clinic has to do an overhaul of the experience of the patient,” Holladay said. “The take-home message is that you have to market to that segment of the people that are candidates for premium IOLs. Then you have to be an ‘A’ surgeon in order to fulfill the promise that those people are going to be happy.”

Patient selection is critical, particularly with an increasing number and variety of lenses now available, according to Jeffrey C. Whitsett, MD.

“The really cool thing for us is that we have fantastic options for patients,” Whitsett said. “The biggest challenge for us is finding the best technology for each individual patient.”

Audrey R. Talley Rostov, MD, said she has a conversion rate exceeding 75% because of a keen focus on patient selection.

“I try to select the right technology for the right patient,” Rostov said.

• Click here to read the full publication exclusive, Cover Story, published in Ocular Surgery News U.S. Edition, October 25, 2016.