eyecare by the numbers

Getting Over-Rx

by Karlen McLean, ABOC, NCLC

Offering over-Rx options when it comes to second pairs of sunwear can increase your capture rate for price-resistant patients.

With the ongoing push for sophisticated sunwear solutions, over-Rx sunwear can be overlooked as a viable sun protection option. Often times misconstrued as big, bulky shields that patients receive after eye surgery, in reality, today's over-Rx sunwear innovations deliver quality, function, and style.

It may be time to take another look at this category. Here's why.

LUXURY BARGAIN

For patients who are looking for convenience and/or cost savings, and should be wearing sunwear, over-Rx styles may offer the best, most cost-effective solution.

There are also medical reasons to wear over-Rx, that include:

■ A balance-challenged patient can't take their eyewear on and off indoors to outdoors, yet requires medically tinted sunlenses.

■ A post-op patient will have an Rx change in around six weeks and doesn't want to buy Rx sunlenses before his vision stabilizes.

■ The light-sensitive patient at your dispensing table really needs and wants Rx sunwear, but faces a restrictive budget.

"Patients purchase over-Rx eyewear when they aren't able to purchase prescription sunwear due to the cost or they may not want to change eyewear when running into a store," observes Chad McKenzie, optical manager at Trinity Regional Eyecare in Williston, N.D.

Thanks to convenience, low cost, and styling, patients may find over-Rx sunwear can be an attractive alternative to Rx sunlenses. Keeping patients' sunwear purchases in your practice, even if it isn't polarized PALs, helps increase your bottom line and generate patient trust.

"Over-Rx sunwear allows all of our patients the ability to afford the sun protection they need," notes Catherine Wilcox, optical director of Kaz Vision & Laser Center in Newport News, Va. "It allows us to increase capture rate for those who can't afford prescription sunglasses."

BRING IT ON

Adding over-Rx sunwear starts with research. Trinity Regional Optical and Kaz Vision & Laser Center suggest looking at products and asking questions about styles and lens features and benefits. Also, consider company policies on purchasing and special programs.

Once the product is selected, setting up over-Rx sunwear displays depends on available space. At Trinity, the display is situated behind the check-out desk. At Kaz, a 16-piece tower of over-Rx options is prominent in the shop, near dispensing tables.

MULTIPLE BENEFITS

In addition to being an affordable and convenient option, over-Rx sunwear can help fill sports, lifestyle, and medical vision needs. They can be an appealing second pair, multiple pair, or repeat purchase.

"Most patients only purchase one pair of over-Rx sunwear initially," says McKenzie. "We've found that once they've had one pair, they'll definitely come back to purchase another pair."

But the main focus of over-Rx sunwear at Kaz Vision is medical, notes Wilcox. He adds: "Whether sunwear is necessary for glare protection, UV protection, or various tints are required to address light sensitivity or color enhancement needs, over-Rx sunwear can address patients' medical concerns." EB