Patients have a wide range of IOL choices but do not just show them a collection of lenses. Most patients believe that it’s the doctor’s responsibility to choose an implant. Before their first consultation, most patients do preliminary research online. It is therefore not unusual for patients to request a particular lens. You can be happy to oblige if it’s a good choice. Explain why you think their choice might not meet their expectations.

Tell them that while 90% can pass the driver’s exam without wearing glasses, they might need to wear glasses at night to read road signs comfortably. Tell patients that they may need to wear glasses to do other things, like reading for long periods or Lasik Beverly Hills reading the fine print. After the initial consultation, two important follow-up steps are required for premium IOLs.

At the end of the consultation, write in the chart the likelihood that this patient will choose premium lenses. You may want to call your patient if you were confident that they would choose a high-end lens but later learn that they have chosen mono-focal. Do not wait until patients complain.

Patients who begin to experience posterior capsular discoloration or mild residual refractive errors that interfere with the ability to wear glasses without assistance can be identified by contacting them about six months after their surgery. They may not bother to visit your office but will still tell others how unhappy they are about their costly implants. This can hurt your reputation.

Consider scheduling an examination every six months for premium IOL users. Offer a free enhancement to a patient who is mildly unhappy with their results. The patients appreciate your extra efforts and will often share them with their friends.

Astigmatism can be corrected at a low cost for the patient. Start by offering free limbal relaxation incisions or a toric IOL, and charging only the cost of the IOL. After you become comfortable with these conversations, you may want to add other types of refractive surgery. These surgeries can sometimes involve more sensitive discussions about costs with the patient.

Avoid patients with unrealistic expectations about their vision after surgery. Preoperative expectations are a big part of preparing for refractive surgery. After surgery, you can remind your patients about what they were told preoperatively.

Choose patients for whom you know you will achieve a perfect postoperative result. Before moving on to refractive surgery, it is helpful to have a relatively stable outcome in standard cataract surgeries. Tracking your results and optimizing your lens coefficients is important for cataract surgery. It should be possible to get a more spherical result.