In this video interview, we sat down with Dr. Jennifer Lyerly and talked solutions for eyestrain, but particularly for those emmetropic patients.
It can often be difficult to figure out how to provide proper service to emmetropic or near-emmetropic patients suffering from digital eyestrain, but Dr. Jennifer Lyerly, cofounder of social media consulting firm Defocus Media, shows us the proper approach to such a situation in a conversation with Dr. Matt Geller.
Dr. Geller confronts Dr. Lyerly with the following situation: He suffers from very minor hyperopia requiring barely any correction (+0.75), as well as a slight exotropia, and currently wears no correction, but is experiencing eye-strain while doing work at the computer.
What would Dr. Lyerly do in this situation?
Dr. Lyerly says that she would go through the full testing process, as well as giving the patient a chance to try on frames.
She thinks that glasses would be a great solution, but contact lenses are a great solution as well. Consequently, when laying out the patient’s options, she would start by discussing glasses (which likely would not be required for all-day use), but would follow this up by introducing the possibility of contact lenses as a possible alternative.
This may surprise those who think of contact lenses as not being a viable option for patients with astigmatism or slight hyperopia. However, Dr. Lyerly points out that such a view is outdated. “There are daily disposable contact lenses now that come in oblique axis for astigmatism. I can get hyperopic prescription correction.” With advancements in lens design, contacts have in fact become a convenient and comfortable option even in situations such as this one.
“I need to give those people opportunity -- people like you with low prescription. You might still be a fabulous contact lens wearer, whereas I think ten years ago we’d be like, ‘Contact lenses aren’t for you.’”
Dr. Lyerly does a podcast, @defocusmedia, with Dr. Darryl Glover. She also has a blog, @eyedolatry_blog, which focuses upon (among other things) women in optometry.
