Contact lenses: design, function, and clinical applications

Contact Lenses Industry

The growth of contact lens industry has been dramatic over the last two decades especially after the emergence of soft lenses in 1980s. Even though the recession in 1980s and the discomfort from prolonged use of contact lenses did have a negative impact on the industry with dropout rate reaching a new high, things have changed tremendously since then with new technological advances. Now that the solution market has replaced the cumbersome three steps cleaning routine by one step routine, there has been a huge increase in the number of contact lens users around the globe. (Nichols, 2011)

According to the most recent estimates, global contact lens market is worth $6.1 billion out of which U.S. has the most dominant share of $2.1 million. The market is expected to increase dramatically in the coming few years and may hit more than $11 billion by 2015. (Global Industry Analysts, Inc.) The growth for this industry is expected to remain modest in 2011 with U.S. industry growing at 6%, while the rest of world growing at 5%.

Johnson and Johnson is the market leader in contact lens manufacturing and enjoy a comfortable 44% market share. CibaVision has 22% of the market, followed by CooperVision at 16% and Bausch & Lomb at 14%. (Nichols, 2011)

Despite the huge market share enjoyed by J & J, it is Ciba Vision which is expected to do see greater momentum in the coming years because of perceived innovation. Licensed eye practitioner see Ciba Vision as the company which is far more innovative than J&J even though the latter is coming out with new and better products more frequently.

The market for Daily disposable lenses is expected to grow more while the market for traditional contact lenses is likely to either remain stagnant or decline. There is variety of reasons for the growth of daily disposables and the most commonly cited are as follows:

Contact lenses worn overnight tend to leave eyes dry and may even cause infection'

A fresh pair of lenses every morning is something that most users desire

The amount of care needed for daily disposable is almost negligible compared to traditional lenses

A new pair offers more oxygen to eyes which help in maintaining vision clarity

Disposable lenses are now more frequently prescribed type of lenses in the U.S. And even around the globe. Out of all the fits, 54% of fits in Asia fall in daily disposable category while 38% fits in Europe enjoy the same category. Even though the industry for daily disposables is growing steadily, it is still being prescribed in 34% of cases worldwide.

United States remain the largest market for contact lenses followed by Europe and Asia but while it was the largest in 2010, it was still the one showing slowest growth compared to other world markets. The most rapid growth was noticed in Asia Pacific region. It must be made clear that despite the market growth, some of the U.S. companies remain market leaders due to their presence in many important regions of the world.