Panel urges optometrist involvement in nutraceuticals

LAS VEGAS – A panel of experts here at Vision Expo West stressed the importance of becoming involved in nutritional supplements, whether prescribing them, selling them in-office or referring patients to online vendors.

Kirk Smick, OD, said 90% of an audience of optometrists he recently surveyed said they were somehow involved in recommending nutraceuticals to their patients.

However, he cautioned that an infinite number of brands and formulas with questionable ingredients are available online.

The Ocular Nutrition Society purchased samples from manufacturers and sent them for lab testing and found the ingredients and amounts as listed on the labels to be inaccurate, he said.

“When people ask me what they should recommend, I say the major manufacturers that you’re familiar with would be a good place to start,” Smick said.

Panel member Jack L. Schaeffer, OD, said, “We all should be prescribing vitamins. Every dry eye specialist tries vitamins first, before any other treatment. Why not make this a profit center in your office? Read up and study them and make sure you’re carrying good products. You don’t have to stock it; you can send the patient to a specific website. You get a rebate and get to keep your patient.

“Get serious about prescribing it, but look at it as a profit center to make up for income we’ll lose over time in our optical to Internet sales,” he said.

“If you don’t recommend something specific, patients will migrate to the brands you don’t want them using,” added panel member Douglas K. Devries, OD.

Moderator Peter G. Shaw-McMinn, OD, said, “I have a geriatric practice, and patients are used to taking vitamins, so why not steer them in the right direction?”

“You can either give a prescription to a patient for a particular vitamin or do direct distribution, where you actually sell it in your practice,” Smick said. “Many optometrists do that.

“If you’re not comfortable dispensing vitamins directly to the patient but still want them to get a particular vitamin, direct them to a website or a toll-free number where they ship to the patient and give you a rebate at the end of the quarter,” he continued, “how ever you’re comfortable doing it.”