Thank you to Alcon for sponsoring this podcast and supporting optometry as a profession. Both Dr. Jennifer Lyerly and Dr. Catherine McDaniel were compensated for their participation on this podcast.

Optometry is so much more than just prescribing glasses and contact lenses, but how can we spread the word about all we provide for our patients? In today’s podcast we dive into exciting new patient outreach efforts seeking to build optometry’s connection as a primary care resource for finding ocular and systemic diseases, protecting against childhood vision problems and their possible detrimental effects on classroom performance, and reshaping how the average American mistakenly correlates dry eye to a condition of the elderly. Our guests—Dr. Carla Mack, Senior Director of Professional Strategy at Alcon, and Dr. Catherine McDaniel, Associate Professor at The Ohio State University College of Optometry—share their insights on these unique patient communication assets and how you can incorporate these tools into your practice!

One of the largest initiatives in optometry right now is Think About Your Eyes, a national public awareness campaign that has generated over 3.4 million eye exams and resulted in $752 million in industry revenue.1  The campaign is raising major awareness about the ability of optometry to detect systemic health conditions during a routine eye exam, and the eye exam’s importance as yearly primary healthcare. Alcon is a proud supporter of this American Optometric Association–backed campaign that is committed to raising patient awareness about the importance of visiting optometrists for comprehensive eye care at every age and stage of a patient’s life.

As a pediatric specialist and mother of two, Dr. Catherine McDaniel has witnessed first hand how difficult it is to get children into the optometrist’s offices for comprehensive eyecare, and how much apprehension about the exam process exists for both parent and child. That one in five preschool children have vision problems, yet only 15% of them have had an eye examination conducted by an eye care professional highlights the importance of overcoming this apprehension.2 In partnership with Alcon, she authored Howard and the Amazing Eye Exam, a free downloadable e-book for children and parents to learn about what happens during the exam, and the importance and value of the visit and diagnostic tests performed. The e-book can be found at theeyesolution.com, so you can put it on your websites for easy access for patients.

Dry eye is another huge opportunity for optometry to make a difference in patients’ daily lives. Estimates show that 30 million Americans suffer from dry eye,3 and as many as 1 in 3 ophthalmic patients report symptoms of dry eye.4  

The TFOS DEWS II study has completely reshaped our understanding of dry eye as a profession, and we now know that a majority of patients with dry eye have mixed mechanism dry eye (including components of both evaporative and aqueous deficient dry eye disease).5 Alcon’s SYSTANE® Complete offers one simple choice for every major type of dry eye.6-10 The drop features advanced nano-droplet technology,7 that allows more effective distribution of the lubricant across the ocular surface for fast hydration6,7,11* and long-lasting relief.9,11-14 SYSTANE® Complete supplements all layers of the tear film, helping to restore the tear film and protect against evaporation.6,11,15,17,18