For Giuseppe “Joey” Borrelli, a third-year optometry student at Pacific University College of Optometry, his first official contact lens fit may turn out to be his most memorable. Joey was recently working at one of the university’s eye clinics when a sixteen-year-old boy who was referred by his pediatrician entered the exam room. Following a comprehensive eye exam, Joey realized the young man, who loved coding and dreamed of pursuing a career in computer science one day, had a substantial amount of astigmatism, with uncorrected high cylinder and visual acuity of 20/70 in one eye and 20/80 in the other.
“He’d gone through high school without any correction,” Joey said. “I was scratching my head and was surprised he hadn’t come in sooner.”
Joey initially recommended glasses for the young patient’s vision correction treatment. However, the teen’s mother, who wore progressive addition spectacle lenses, was resistant to this option, and pressed Joey on how long her son would need to wear glasses.
“It was a hard conversation because I’ve never had anyone ask me something like that before. I said, ‘He’ll probably need vision correction for the rest of his life, but I wear glasses all the time and have no issues.’”
When it became apparent that the cost of contact lenses would pose a hardship for the boy’s family, Joey’s attending, Dr. James Kundart suggested CooperVision’s Adopt-A-Patient program as an option that could help the young man receive the vision correction he so clearly needed. CooperVision’s Adopt-A-Patient provides selected individuals in need a one-year supply of contact lenses following the fitting process at an optometry school’s clinic or satellite clinic. Adopt-A-Patient is intended to be a positive contact lens fitting experience for the student during their contact lens clinical education while also helping under-privileged patients. After Joey returned to the exam room with the news that the teen could be fit in CooperVision Biofinity XR toric lens through the program, the family was elated.
“The faces of both the mom and her son lit up when I told them. It was awesome to have this as an option for the patient because he wasn’t the biggest fan of glasses, and with the contact lenses, he immediately loved the comfort and vision they provided.1 My patient will be entering his last year of high school and is excited for his better vision at school, which will help him pursue college education in a computer science program,” Joey said.
Following the initial trial fit from the Biofinity XT toric fit set, the young man returned for a follow-up a week later. At that point, the teenager was already motivated and adept at insertion and removal2* (I&R) since he had watched some CooperVision online education videos on proper I&R techniques.
“After I fit him, at the follow up, he surprised me with 20/15 vision.3 He was doing really well, and the lenses had zero-degrees of rotation,” Joey says.
Now that the teen is enjoying the benefits of clear vision, his mother is also pursuing the Adopt-A-Patient program for her younger son who also needs vision correction. As for the teenager who no longer has to squint at the screen when he’s working on his computer programming, he was extremely appreciative of the opportunity.
“He knew this was going to change his life, and he was super grateful. As we spent more time together, he opened up more and seemed to gain confidence,” Joey said. “The experience was super rewarding, because it was my first contact lens fit. Now that I’m going to fit more contact lenses, I hope they’re all going to be as easy as this one.”
# # #
Giuseppe Borrelli is a 3rd year optometry student at Pacific University College of Optometry (PUCO). He was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary. At PUCO, he is a board member of the contact lens club and Beta Sigma Kappa Honor Society. He also serves as a student ambassador for PUCO. Giuseppe has a strong passion for delivering excellent patient care and helping those in need with their vision. His interest in optometry includes specialty contact lens, neuro-optometry, and ocular disease. When he is not studying, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing soccer, and watching all types of sports.
____________________________
-
On average, 87% strongly/somewhat agree. Biofinity wearers included spherical, toric and multifocal designs.
-
CVI data on file 2019; prospective, double masked, bilateral, randomized, cross-over dispensing study n=39 habitual soft toric wearers.
-
CVI data on file 2021. Decision Analyst online survey of 1,027 Biofinity wearers aged 16-65 years in USA, Japan, Germany, France and Spain.
-
CVI data on file, 2020. Review performance from 11 soft toric CL studies that include MyDay® toric, Biofinity® toric, Avaira Vitality® toric and clariti® 1 day toric; n=401.
