REPORT FALL 2024

Disrupting the Dropout Dilemma: Practical Steps to Keep Patients in Contact Lenses

Our Fall 2024 See Tomorrow report indicates that higher contact lens retention rates are well within the reach of eye care practices, with corresponding long-term wear and widespread patient satisfaction.

Disrupting the Dropout Dilemma: Practical Steps to Keep Patients in Contact Lenses is based on CLI-commissioned research conducted in August 2024 among 401 U.S. adults, split equally between new (<2 years) and long-term (≥2 years) soft contact lens wearers. More than a dozen interrelated factors regarding their contact lens habits.

The data is shared in the report, along with 14 infographics that are ideal for training members of the practice team. In addition, 18 Visionaries share how they are translating the findings into positive behaviors within their own practices through columns, checklists, and pearls.

Report Highlights

High Wearer Satisfaction

Overall contact lens satisfaction is high across all patients. Two of three (67%) new wearers said they were highly satisfied, ranking their approval from 8-10 on a 10-point scale. This soars to 86% among long-term wearers—another affirmation that encouraging patients during their earlier stages is imperative.

Closing that 19-point percentage gap may come from helping neophytes better understand the full range of contact lens benefits and advantages, as illustrated throughout this report. At the same time, there remains opportunity to elevate the experiences of patients who score their contact lens satisfaction as moderate (4-7 on a 10-point scale)—33% of new wearers and 12% of longterm wearers.

New and long-term wearers were asked to choose the top five reasons for being satisfied with their contact lenses. Several rank-ordered similarities and meaningful differences suggest that longer-term wearers have a deeper appreciation of many contact lens benefits.

> See also Drivers of Contact Lens Satisfaction Infographic

The Detractors

Many of the same aspects of contact lens use that contribute to continued wear can also create angst. When asked to rank their top five reasons for dissatisfaction, the most cited were:

  • Cost (NW: 49%, LTW: 41%)
  • Handling (NW: 40%, LTW: 32%)
  • Comfort (NW: 39%, LTW: 19%)
  • Vision (NW: 35%, LTW: 19%),
  • Convenience (NW: 35%, LTW: 16%) 

The Role of Doctor and Staff Behaviors

CLI asked respondents about specific interactions with doctors and staff, homing in on how these swayed continued contact lens use. There were similar viewpoints as to what were ‘extreme’ or ‘great’ influences, with new wearers reporting higher impacts for all of the 20 choices (with every new wearer response at 50% or greater).

Behaviors to Address the Most Common Issues

Challenge: Vision & Comfort
Evaluating 10 possible actions by the practice team, new wearers and long-term wearers were closely aligned, with seven behaviors being tapped at rates of 70% or more as very likely or likely to impact continued contact lens use. ‘Fully listening to my concerns’ was highest ranked by both groups (NW: 80%, LTW: 84%). New wearers were much more likely to appreciate post-visit outreach to check on vision or comfort (NW: 77%, LTW 62%; NW 15 points higher). 

See data and infographics related to other challenges:

Everyone Plays a Role in Retention

Current contact lens patients indicated varying degrees of influence among the practice team specific to continuing wear, with optometrists or ophthalmologists holding the most sway (NW: 74%, LTW: 59%), followed by opticians (NW: 64%, LTW: 52%).

Yet it was not only these positions alone that mattered: technicians / assistants, optical staff, and administrative staff all registered as being influential. What’s remarkable is that new wearers were significantly more affected by the entire practice team, especially through their interactions with nonclinical staff compared to long-term wearers.

Information Please

Eye doctors (NW: 38%, LTW: 32%), optical staff (NW: 27%, LTW: 12%), and opticians (NW: 24%, LTW: 22%) rank in the top five, with administrative staff (NW: 21%, LTW: 10%) and exam staff (NW: 18%, LTW: 12%) landing in the top 10 (of 19 possibilities
presented).

New wearers express their thirst for knowledge, rating every category higher than long-term wearers. This was particularly apparent with their reliance on friends and family as a source of information, ranking second among all options, and 23 points higher compared to veteran wearers (NW: 34%, LTW: 11%).

Commerce Considerations

The latest CLI data indicates that approximately a third of wearers purchase their contact lenses from online retailers not affiliated with their eye doctor (NW: 32%, LTW: 36%), with a smaller segment heading to unaffiliated retail stores (NW: 15%, LTW: 11%).

In-office purchase continues to be the primary channel for long-term wearers (45%), with a smaller number of veterans buying from their practice’s web page or app (7%). And while a sizable number of new wearers also purchase in the office (30%), they are much more likely to order from the practice digital site than the long-term group (NW: 22%, 15 points higher compared to LTW).

Combining Contact Lens and Glasses Wear

New wearers tend to not only split wearing time during an average week between glasses (51%) and contact lenses (49%), but also has a much more evenly split distribution for how many days per week they use contact lenses.

In comparison, long-term wearers use their contact lenses the vast majority of the week: 88% of the time, compared to glasses.

Nearly nine of 10 patients in this group (88%) wear their contact lenses every day, while only 17% also wear glasses daily—another outsized indication of the reliance on and satisfaction for contact lenses once patients have found success.

Time and Trust

When it comes to building rapport with contact lens patients, does time matter? Data indicate it does, yet in a way that is largely realistic and manageable.

When asked if more time spent with their eye doctor and/or exam staff elevated trust in their recommendations, 74% of new wearers and 57% of long-term wearers agreed it did.

However, that does not require extending appointments and reducing throughput. The median definition of ‘adequate’ total exam length time—including doctors and exam staff—was 16-20 minutes (NW: 41%, LTW: 39%). 

Vision Expo West 2024 Innovation Stage Panel

Three Visionaries shared preliminary research findings and implications during Vision Expo West on the Innovation Stage.

 “Disrupting the Dropout Dilemma: Bold Moves to Keep Consumers in Contact Lenses” panelists included: Jennifer Seymour Brusven, LDO, NCLE-AC, ABO-AC, Yesnick Vision Center; Janelle Davison, OD, Brilliant Eyes Vision Center; and Shalu Pal, OD, FAAO, FSLS, FBCLA, FIAOMC, Dr. Shalu Pal & Associates.

CLI Chairperson Carla Mack, OD, FAAO, Dipl AAO, FBCLA, moderated.

Ms. Jennifer Seymour Brusven

Dr. Janelle Davison

Dr. Shalu Pal

Dr. Carla Mack

Moderator