Aug 2016

Truth, lies and statistics
I
recently received a Survey Monkey survey
from one of the BIG FOUR contact lens
companies.
This one dealt with marketing and data
collection by contact lens companies and
sought to determine our perceptions on such
things.
I am generally happy to complete surveys
and have done many in my time. Sometimes
they drive you nuts and may take 15 to
20 minutes to complete. I find that rather
tedious. Some surveys offer to pay me
US$15.00 and then send me a bank cheque.
When you try cash it in it takes weeks to clear
and the bank charges are often greater than
the amount you receive. Fortunately my bank
has offered to waive the bank fees when they
see how ridiculous it is – when I would have
to pay $25.00 to get $15.00 meaning it costs
me $10.00 to do the survey! A recent survey
offering me US$15.00 had a condition that I
now had to complete an American W-8 tax
form in order to receive the payment. I don’t
like filling in forms at the best of times so I
kindly declined. I did suggest that this was
nonsense and if they could find a way to pay
me without form filling I might consider it. I
got no response.
We can thank terrorism and money
laundering for such over the top ludicrous
form filling for trivial amounts of money,
never mind the hassles we all have at airports
these days.
I’ve done quite a few surveys from
companies wanting to launch a new lens,
product, drug or solution. They seek to
determine what we think a good name would
be for their new product. Some of the names
they come up with are ridiculous with just
a few that make sense. You have to list and
grade your preferences, sometimes among
twenty names and as you drill down they ask
more and more questions and cross-check
your answers. It all gets rather silly and is a
time wasting irritation.
That said, I once did a survey for a market
research company employed by a world
leading contact lens company. They even had
images of the boxes of lenses and the name
they were thinking of. It was obvious to me
who the company was and I immediately
contacted colleagues in said company telling
them how pleased I was to see that they were
launching a silicone hydrogel lens. My local
contacts were somewhat in the dark, but it
didn’t take long for their top people in the
USA to make contact, wondering how the hell
this guy in ‘Nuzillin’ knew about their secret
lens. It was all rather interesting I must say.
My View
At any rate let’s get back to the recent survey
I referred to. Among other things the survey
was asking if we thought that contact lens
companies should market their brand directly
to consumers.
Of course they should and of course they
do. All one needs to do is take a look at
YouTube to see what marketing some of the
companies do in the US, EU, Asia, Japan etc.
Of course when I am seeing a patient I
always recommend the lens that’s best for
them. Even if they did ask for a lens they had
seen advertised, it would not necessarily be
the one that I prescribe.
We are now in the 21 st Century and
marketing rules. The survey also asked
questions about companies being involved in
social media. Again of course they are: social
media is now making traditional marketing
look staid and old fashioned and if one believes
what you see and read, this is where it’s at.
They also asked if we had issues with
companies data mining and obtaining
patient information via social media and
apps. I don’t believe you can stop companies
getting patient data and contact details, as
the patients (consumers) voluntarily provide
that information. The way I see it is that
modern youth are very free with their privacy
and details, much like the hippies were in the
‘60s with free love! I have not promoted CL
company apps to my patients but I see that
there may be some positives, like improving
compliance and providing reminders. I simply
tell my patients who battle to remember
when to change lenses to programme a
reminder into their smartphone. Of course
having the majority of my in-range patients in
dailies avoids many of these issues.
Privacy
I avoid providing contact lens companies with
any patient details apart from their name
on orders. They do not get their address,
DOB, phone or email. In the old days in my
practices – before the internet - we used
to have a multipage self-carbon order pad
with tear offs, so the order that was faxed/
posted/delivered to the companies simply
had a patient reference number and nothing
else. (We had been stung once or twice by
companies who had tried to contact our
patients directly and thus had learned our
lesson decades ago). These days with privacy
acts and so on it is even more important for
you to make sure patient data is retained and
not shared.
These days some companies offer to ship
contact lenses direct to the consumer. It’s not
something I’m happy with and have never
used such systems.
The paranoid conspiracy theorists reckon
that contact lens companies are building
databases of contact lens wearers so
that they can send the consumer/patient
marketing info and potentially cut out the
optometrist and supply lenses directly. I
doubt that this is likely to happen. Contact
lens companies know on which side their
bread is buttered. Let’s face it optometrists
are the gatekeepers and prescribers of the
bulk of contact lenses in the world. Some
are prescribed by ophthalmologists (like in
France) and dispensing opticians and others
with contact lens prescribing licences (like
we see in the UK, US and Canada) but this
is not the bulk of prescribing. If contact lens
companies start direct selling to patients and
bypassing contact lens practitioners then I
suspect that contact lens market penetration
would drop significantly: practitioners will
stop proactively prescribing lenses. We have
seen some major legal battles in the US
where certain online contact lens retailers
and others with vested interests have tried
to alter legislation to make contact lenses
freely available without prescription. They
seek to dumb down contact lenses to generic
non-medical commodities. There are also
moves afoot to allow for kiosks that ‘examine
eyes’ and spit out a CL or spectacle Rx. That’s a
discussion for another day.
Bias?
Some surveys ask leading questions and
require ‘forced choices’. I’m generally not
happy with responding to such items. Thus
I avoid completing such surveys as I believe
they provide biased and skewed data and
statistics. Some allow for an ‘other’ option
and allow you to add comments: In my
experience, when I have tested such options
to see if they are read by asking for an email
response, I never get one so deem it to be a
waste of time.
At any rate these are my views on some
of the questions that are being asked. I’d be
interested to see what this survey’s results
show, if they are ever shared. I would probably
have broken down respondents by age: I’m
sure we would see quite skewed data as we
did in Brexit recently with massive differences
in perceptions between the younger and older
generations.
I reckon younger practitioners are much
more accepting of social media, TV marketing
and advertising than older practitioners but
of course I could be wrong.
Truth, lies and statistics eh? ▀
Getting behind MD awareness
The recent 2016 Macular Degeneration New
Zealand (MDNZ) Awareness week was a success
based on a marked increase in the turnout
to national seminars and phone calls to MDNZ for
further information.
The week-long campaign from 23-
29 May continued the Association’s
strong focus on the benefits of early
intervention and use of the easy-touse
Amsler Grid.
Phillippa Pitcher, MDNZ general
manager, said there has been
a steady increase in awareness
around the benefits of early
detection through regular eye
examinations, especially where a
relative has been affected by MD or
there has been a history of smoking.
MDNZ managed a greater reach
through a more strategic approach
to the use of social media and the
willingness of 10 New Zealanders
to share their personal stories in
the hope that people would take
heed of symptoms and act quickly
to preserve their vision, she said.
“Recent statistics supplied to
MDNZ show our continued focus
on the benefits of early detection
and smarter use of communication
Good diet for MD
New Zealanders are set to benefit from new
research identifying optimum weekly diets for
preventing age-related macular degeneration
(AMD) – New Zealand’s leading cause of blindness.
Dr Graham Wilson, ophthalmologist and clinical
director at St George’s Eye Care in Christchurch, is
investigating what New Zealanders need to eat to
help prevent AMD and minimise the progression of
the disease for those who already have it.
A range of New Zealand-specific
dietary scenarios will be identified
along with the associated cost.
There is also potential to model
Maori, Asian and Pacific Island
diets. It is the first time that
macular degeneration research of
this nature has been carried out in
New Zealand.
“It is well documented that
improvements in diet, for
example increasing intake of
green leafy vegetables, fish and
nuts, can reduce the risk of AMD
progression in those with early
signs of the disease,” says Dr
Wilson, who is undertaking the
research project alongside his
brother Dr Nick Wilson, professor
of public health at the University
of Otago.
“We aim to take it one step
further by modelling the perfect
New Zealand diet. The results will
be very applicable to the average
Kiwi, providing real, tangible
information to help prevent
the disease and minimise its
progression.”
Research will be carried out by
accessing a University of Otago
database that identifies nutrient
channels is making a difference. This year we were
able to directly access nearly 242,000 people, over
the age of 60, who use Facebook through our use of
a ‘Humans of New York’ approach. Those 10 personal
stories, from people from all walks of life, really
helped us to get the message out
there in a positive way.”
Awareness was also built up
through a series of interviews
on the main media channels
with MDNZ trustee Dr Andrew
Thompson, MDNZ chair Dr
Dianne Sharp and supporter Dr
Jim Borthwick. There was also
digital signage in 21 shopping
malls around the country and four
outdoor billboards in Auckland.
Pitcher said the uptake and
support of the campaign by
optometrists and ophthalmologists
throughout the country was
amazing.
“Many took out advertisements
in their local papers, arranged
competitions where, for example,
winners received a free eye check,
and sent out MD information to
their clients via their mailing lists.
New look online for VOSO
New Zealand charitable trust Volunteer
Ophthalmic Services Overseas (VOSO) has a
brand new website with content contributed
by all the current and some former trustees.
In a statement the organisation gave special thanks
to former trustee Malcolm McKellar, who dreamt of
a website that would both increase public awareness
of the charity as well as provide an online platform
for the public to donate directly to VOSO. “We would
also like to thank former secretary Ravi Dass who
secured the domain name and provided many of the
great photos on the site,” said VOSO secretary and
Auckland-based optometrist Kylie Dreaver.
The website was kindly built by The Drop’s Mark
Dromgoole, nephew of retired optometrist Colin
Beckwith. The organisation was also keen to thank
its main financial supporters the NZAO, RANZCO
and the University charitable trust, and Air New
Zealand, which helps the organisation with its cargo
requirements, as well as all the optometrists and
ophthalmologists who have personally supported the
MDNZ Awareness takes pride of place at Vivian
Edgar in Te Puke
This support helped us greatly to
spread our message far and wide.” ▀
VOSO trustee and retired Thames optometrist Hywel Bowen at work for VOSO
organisation over the last 30 years.
This year VOSO has a combined surgical and
optometry trip to Tonga, an optometry trip to Samoa
and has sent surgical supplies to Fiji, where limitations
in IOLs have led to reduced cataract surgeries being
performed. For more about VOSO’s activities, visit the
new site at www.voso.org.nz. ▀
levels and costs of common New Zealand foods. Linear
programming techniques will be used to optimise the
nutrients for AMD prevention across a range of diets,
including those constrained by cost.
The benefits are not limited to eye health, says Dr
Wilson.“What is good for your eyes is also good for your
heart and in preventing certain types of cancer. The
research findings will also be applicable to prevention
of other diseases.” ▀
MORE CLASSIFIEDS ON PAGE 16
PRACTICE CO-ORDINATOR / OPTICAL
ASSISTANT / DISPENSING OPTICIAN
We require a star team player who also thrives in an autonomous
environment. If you have an eye for detail and organisation, have
a passion for eyewear and fashion and enjoy the sales challenge
then we would love to discuss the position with you further.
Hours include a late night and some Saturday work on a rostered
basis.
Email your CV to Kristine on kjensen@eyesofhowick.co.nz or
phone 0274824477.
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE
Chair stand, vertometer, slit lamp and other accessories for sale.
Please email bdclworks@gmail.com for further equiries.
14 NEW ZEALAND OPTICS August 2016.indd