Has the fitting of rigid gas permeable lenses become the new ‘rocket science’?

Over recent years I appear to be fitting less and less rigid gas permeable lenses.  At a recent gathering, some friends were even debating whether or not GP lens fitting should now become a ‘specialist service’ only to be provided by practitioners who manage to demonstrate the experience. 

After all, with dwindling numbers, even the pre-registration trainees are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve their quota of patient episodes to in order to satisfy the Scheme for Registration quarterly assessments.  During a recent hospital visit, I was surprised to see a few fairly straightforward rigid fits on the optometry department contact lens list. In previous years, these patients were previously dealt with quite adequately within high street practice.

Arguably, GP fitting is as much as art as it is a science and certainly needs experience, but surely the same can be said for most skills that we acquire over the years? So, we concluded that that to remove it from the pre-registration and undergraduate years altogether would seem rather dramatic. 

After  all – it’s not rocket science, is it?

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