Gelflex Laboratories has opened its doors to second year optometry students from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in an act that Head of School, Professor Garry Fitzpatrick described as “incredibly generous” and “an amazing educational opportunity”.
Fifty students toured the lab over two days in small groups, participating in interactive workshops where they learnt about prescribing, and the design and manufacture of customised contact lenses, their potential to enhance patient quality of life, and build practice business. The tour, which has now become part of the optometry curriculum, concluded with a group question and answer session.
Prof Fitzpatrick praised Gelflex for its proactive involvement with the School of Optometry and its willingness to set aside valuable production time to build the students’ knowledge base.
“The students have seen videos of the manufacture of soft disposable contact lenses, but they were very surprised at the technical precision involved in the design, and the quality controls in place when producing a dedicated product for a specific patient.
“While some will never find themselves prescribing customised contact lenses, it’s essential that they understand the potential to do so – you can’t pick and choose which patients will have complex visual needs.”
FACILITATING A BRIDGE
UWA optometry school Course Director, Associate Professor Khyber Alam said that by welcoming students into its lab, Gelflex had “facilitated a bridge between academic learning and real-world application”.
“The chance to interact with industry experts offered a unique perspective that textbooks and lectures often cannot provide… Such initiatives not only inspire students but also reinforce the importance of industry/academic partnerships in driving innovation and excellence within the field.”
This is something that Mark Masel, Technical Manager – Specialty Lenses at Gelflex said he had hoped to achieve.
“Many experienced optometrists have not been exposed to customised contact lens manufacturing. But it’s not until you’ve done that that you really get to understand the complexity of lens design and exactly what can be achieved to meet the unique vision needs of some patients,” he told mivision.
“We hope the tour helped participants overcome any fear factors they may have and gave them the confidence to draw on our support, not only when they begin their careers, but also throughout.”
PIQUED THE CURIOSITY
Melbourne optometrist and optometry lecturer Assoc Prof Richard Vojlay, who prepared and delivered his presentation virtually, told mivision that the tour was an opportunity to educate students about why contact lenses are important to both the industry and its patients.
“Contact lenses are uniquely optometry based and our patients need practitioners who are passionate about developing expertise in contact lens fitting,” he said.
“We have the most extensive range of contact lenses available in history and we need proactive optometrists actively offering these options to our patients.
“From orthokeratology lenses for myopia control to scleral lenses for keratoconus or daily multifocal lenses for occasional social wear, there are often multiple opportunities for optometrists to be able to assist their patients.” Making the point that onshore lens laboratories are a valuable asset to optometrists, Mr Masel encouraged all eye care professionals to draw on the technical support available locally to ensure optimum results can be achieved for patients.
“Gelflex has worked closely with UWA’s School of Optometry since 2020. Since the School opened, the lens lab has provided discounted lenses, as well as free trial sets for student learning and the University’s supervised clinics.
“We are committed to supporting students and optometrists throughout their contact lens journey by offering access to our training hub with fitting guides and troubleshooting guides, as well as a direct line of contact to our lens experts.”
For UWA, the benefits of this emerging industry/ academic partnership have been immediately apparent. Having received “tremendous student feedback” on the Gelflex lab tour, Prof Fitzpatrick said the laboratory tour would remain part of the course curriculum for years to come, or “for as long as Gelflex is happy to have us”.
