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Treat dry eye?
Now that I’ve told you a bit about myself, let’s talk about something infinitely more interesting: You! When it comes to dry eye, the single most important factor to consider is whether or not you actually want to be in the business of treating dry eye.
Seriously, it’s not for everyone. Dry eye was almost universally considered the “crabgrass that grows on the lawn of eye care” for decades. Indeed, the emergence of Restasis (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion 0.05%, Allergan) is probably the single biggest factor in the development of the modern anterior segment practice that explicitly calls itself a dry eye practice simply because we finally had something that really worked.
Take a little time to examine your practice as it is now set up. What are the major types of diseases and problems you manage today? Is there a particular type of patient you see or certain things you enjoy more than others? If you are an active surgeon, are you doing any amount of elective surgeries such as LASIK or implantion of presbyopia-correcting IOLs?
After you’ve given these items a look, take a peek at your schedule itself. Do you have room for new patients? Is there enough time in the schedule to do the work that will be necessary to provide high-level dry eye care to your existing patients? The initial discussion can take a bit with a dry eye patient, whether they are new or someone you’ve been taking care of for years.
Everyone at SkyVision Centers has come to love caring for dry eye patients. When you are able to take someone who is in constant discomfort, sometimes with lousy vision to make things even worse, and you are able to make them feel pretty much normal … well, we’ve all found that to be an awfully special feeling.
It takes a bit of time, especially in the beginning while you are fine-tuning your office processes. But if your experience mirrors ours, you will find that the care of the dry eye patient is rewarding in every sense of the word.
Next up: Who has dry eye and why they are important to your practice. I’ll see you next week.