EACH YEAR, we closely track trending topics in the field of contact lenses, particularly as they relate to editorial content planning. We certainly keep our ears to the ground in a multitude of ways: by surveying our editorial board, additional key opinion leaders, and the CLS readership; remaining updated on the contact lens scientific literature, in addition to pinpointing popular contact lens topics in various meetings; and using advanced tools such as artificial intelligence and Google Trends to monitor online activity on various categories of contact lenses and the field as a whole. Needless to say, we have the “receipts.”

When recently evaluating online search trends in the field, a few trends became obvious. Before we jump into this, it is important to recognize that Google Trends can be a powerful analytical tool. The reports compile and analyze billions of daily search queries and normalize them to allow for the relative comparisons, all while controlling for geographic location and time ranges.

Now, let’s get back to the receipts. When simply evaluating “contact lenses” in Google Trends going back to 2004, one notices a steady decline to present with a couple of noticeable outliers. These outliers correspond to the Fusarium and Acanthamoeba outbreaks in 2006-2007. When evaluating this graphically, there are sharp peaks indicating significant public interest in these specific contact lens topics, obviously due to public health concerns regarding the safety of contact lenses. Otherwise, since 2004, there has been a steady decline in the general topic of contact lenses.

However, when looking at more specific contact lens topics, a few upward trends are noted. These topics (in order of growing interest) include orthokeratology, myopia control, and—with the greatest growth—scleral lenses. While these topics certainly do not reach the popularity of “contact lenses” in general, they do show remarkable and sustained growth in interest, and corroborate other methodologies used in content planning. So, when we’re asked to show our receipts, we can certainly reveal our transactions.