THE CALENDAR YEAR 2024 has come to a close—and what a year it has been. There has been much to celebrate this past year, but also much to consider as we anticipate the future of eye care and the field of contact lenses. As predicted, artificial intelligence (AI) has shown up in a big way. New technologies are starting to show promise for making and confirming diagnoses and assessing contact lens fits. And the 2024 presidential election has caused both uncertainty and optimism in the economy, which could have significant impacts on the contact lens market.
Looking back, it is hard to believe that we have now had silicone hydrogel (SiHy) contact lens materials for 25 years. The impact of these materials has been substantial, and while they have not eliminated all contact lens complications, they have certainly made a dent in providing the optimal contact lens-wearing experience for our patients. It is for this reason that our “event of the year” for 2024 is the 25-year anniversary of the first SiHy materials—what an event to celebrate! See “Editor’s Perspective” on page 4 for more about this.
OVERVIEW OF GENERAL MARKET TRENDS
Despite another year of continued economic uncertainty tied to higher interest rates, persistent inflationary pressures, and the U.S. election cycle, growth of the global contact lens market remained solid in 2024 at levels just above the upper end of the industry’s normalized historical ranges. Data obtained from Baird (Jeff Johnson, OD, CFA, managing director, senior research analyst) suggested that the global soft contact lens market was on track to grow just over 6.5% in the first nine months of 2024 to more than $10 billion after adjusting for foreign currency movements throughout the year, above the 4% to 6% growth the industry enjoyed in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even as this 6.5% growth in 2024 remained above the historical trend line, it slowed versus the 9% to 10% year-over-year growth that Baird estimated for the market in both 2022 and 2023, partly because those prior years included unsustainable year-over-year benefits as a number of countries, especially in Asia and certain parts of Europe, were slower to reopen post-COVID in 2021 and 2022.
Consumer sentiment also softened in some countries during 2024, with contact lens demand in China and Japan particularly impacted by such issues. Manufacturer price increases also slowed in 2024 versus the prior couple of years due to these same consumer uncertainties, and contact lens distributors tightened inventory levels to preserve cash as interest rates and borrowing costs remained high in 2024.
Looking more closely at like-for-like contact lens pricing in 2024, Baird estimates that contact lens manufacturers likely realized two to three percentage points of positive year-over-year pricing tailwind in 2024. As noted above, that was down roughly a percentage point or two versus 3% to 4% annual price increases those same manufacturers enjoyed in 2022 and 2023, although such tailwinds also remained roughly a point above pre-COVID levels.
The other key to sustained, above-historical market growth in 2024 was continued uptake of daily disposable lenses, with Baird’s own contact lens surveys in recent months suggesting that daily SiHy penetration is currently increasing roughly eight percentage points per year, and daily SiHy penetration in the U.S. is expected to reach nearly 50% one to two years from now versus ~41% in 2024.
Within the daily SiHy category, toric and multifocal use also continues to grow. Baird estimates that toric dailies account for roughly 25% of the U.S. daily SiHy market at present, up from ~17% of the market a decade earlier, while multifocal dailies account for roughly 15% of the U.S. daily SiHy market, up from ~8% of the market in 2014.
Although consumer uncertainties continue as we head into 2025, the contact lens market has proven resilient over the years, consumer confidence has recently ticked a bit higher, and there remains plenty of room for secular tailwinds to continue driving incremental uptake of dailies, and especially daily torics and multifocals. Add in the continued potential for low-single-digit annual price increases, and Baird expects another solid year of global contact lens growth in the 6% to 7% range for 2025.
CURRENT PRACTICE TRENDS
Contact Lens Spectrum also conducts market research, asking readers about their practice trends and patterns both generally and about contact lenses specifically. We have conducted this market research for many years, which allows for some longer-term and longitudinal analyses. The questions cover a variety of topics, including characteristics of the patient base of a practice, business and financial aspects of a practice, fitting and prescribing trends, and care solution trends.
This year, 87 North American respondents completed most of the survey. As we proceed to discuss trends and observations about the contact lens field, I will draw on information gained from this market research, in addition to other sources. It is important to note that the readers of Contact Lens Spectrum likely reflect a more specialty lens focus in their practices compared with other data sources.
• Practice and Business Trends Table 1 summarizes trends in practice and business characteristics from 2014 to 2024. Most of our respondents were optometrists, followed by ophthalmologists, contact lens technicians, and opticians. The patient base of the typical practice was made of approximately 35% contact lens wearers, and the average number of contact lens fittings and refittings in a typical week was about 38 (Table 1).
Practitioners estimate that 59% of their patients purchase contact lenses from their practices (56% in 2023), whereas 23% purchase them online (23% in 2023), 11% through a third-party retailer independent of a practice, and 3% from another practice setting.
Further to this, 64% of practitioners believe that they will see an expansion of their overall contact lens practice in 2025 (59% for 2024), while 36% believe it will stay the same (55% for 2024). This upturn in optimism likely reflects a growing sense of general enthusiasm about the economy.
• Lens Dispensing and Mode of Wear Trends As we have reported in years past, SiHy materials make up most of the fits and refits that are conducted today (Contact Lens Spectrum market data). In 2024, SiHy lenses reportedly were used for 64% of fits, while hydrogels reportedly were used in 15% of fits, GPs in 13% of fits, and hybrids in 2%.
As shown in Figure 1, data from Contact Lens Spectrum’s market research showed that across all contact lens designs, most of the reported fits and refits used soft spherical lenses (45% versus 33% in 2023), followed by soft toric lenses (24% versus 21% in 2023), soft multifocal contact lenses (15% versus 15% in 2023), spherical corneal GPs (3% versus 9% in 2023), and scleral designs (7% versus 3% in 2023). Along these same lines, when asked which popular specialty lenses had the greatest growth potential in 2025, most practitioners indicated scleral lenses (46% versus 32% for 2024), followed by custom soft lenses (25% versus 25% for 2024), orthokeratology (20% versus 33% for 2024), and hybrids (9% compared to 9% for 2024).
When we asked practitioners to estimate the distribution of lenses by category of lenses containing any rigid GP lens material, it is perhaps not surprising that corneal designs made up the bulk of fits (62% versus 56% for 2023), followed by sclerals (21% versus 18% for 2023), ortho-k (13% versus 17% for 2023), and hybrids (3% versus 9% for 2023).
Data obtained from the ABB Optical Group (an independent optical industry platform) and GfK - An NIQ Company (market research service), showed a similar trend for 2024 when comparing what are considered the four major soft lens categories (spherical, toric, multifocal, and cosmetic) (Table 2). Not surprising, spherical soft lenses maintained the biggest market share, followed by torics, multifocals, and cosmetics.
In addition to the Contact Lens Spectrum Reader Profile Survey, we gleaned market insights from ABB Optical Group and GfK - An NIQ Company in terms of replacement schedule usage (Table 3). When we compared data from the different sources, stable trends emerged: All three sources demonstrated that the daily disposable modality continues to lead into prescribing by soft lens replacement schedule (range of 48% to 56%) followed by the monthly category (30% to 32%).
Myopia management with contact lenses is certainly a growing practice in the contact lens community. In 2024, 59% of Contact Lens Spectrum Reader Profile respondents indicated that they actively practice myopia management with contact lenses (versus 64% in 2023). Of those who are practicing myopia management with contact lenses, most are using a soft multifocal (68% versus 57% in 2023) compared with orthokeratology (32% versus 37% in 2023).
THE PAST AND THE FUTURE
Every year, we end the annual report with a look back at the contact lens industry from a decade ago. Additionally, we offer some predictions as to where we see the industry heading in the near future.
• Categories to Watch The “contact lens event” of 2014 was the evolution of the cosmetic lens category. At the time, we had seen several novel entries into this category that we said “really fill a niche in what could become the fastest-growing segment of the market in the years to come.”1 According to the annual report that year, cosmetic lenses accounted for between 3% and 4%.2 However, today, Contact Lens Spectrum readers still only report 4% for cosmetic lenses, and ABB and GfK data shows a decrease to 2% of sales. Despite the renewed interest a decade ago in cosmetic lenses, it seems as if this is a category that has remained flat.
Going back two decades and then a decade ago, articles noted the difference between the increasing number of presbyopes and the percentage of that population that was wearing contact lenses.3,4 Specifically, in 2014, multifocals only accounted for between 9% and 17%.2 As noted earlier, that number has grown to 13% to 22% in 2024. This is a major step in the right direction, but we believe there is still a long way to go to accommodate the needs of this growing pool of presbyopic patients.
In 2014, myopia management was still an emerging trend in the industry. Only about one-quarter of respondents were practicing actively in that area, and there were no contact lenses approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for that indication. Of those who were active, most were prescribing a soft multifocal contact lens (49%), followed by orthokeratology (46%) and GP multifocals (5%). At that time, we noted that “Once the FDA begins approving products for this indication—and news of the approval is covered by the media and reaches more parents—this modality has the potential to really take off and eventually change the standard of care for correcting the vision of young patients who have myopia.”2
That prediction from a decade ago has panned out. Today, nearly 60% of respondents indicate that they are actively practicing myopia management. As noted earlier, more than two-thirds of them are using soft multifocals, and the rest use orthokeratology.
• Emerging Technologies Ten years ago, Alcon announced that it was going to license Google smart lens technology.5One of the main aspects of this collaboration focused on using contact lenses to sense glucose levels to help diabetics, but the companies later decided to cease that research. Since then, however, several groups have developed prototypes and/or studied the various contact lens designs that attempt to detect glucose levels.6 For example, diagnostic contact lenses now include hydrogel-based sensors capable of detecting changes in tear fluid analytes such as glucose and lactate, smart polymers to monitor tear composition and pH, and integration of graphene-based electrodes for glucose monitoring.7,8
Using contact lenses to deliver drugs is another related area. A few years ago, the FDA approved a contact lens that could deliver medication for contact lens wearers who have itchy eyes caused by allergies (this lens has since been discontinued). Researchers will continue to explore the use of contact lenses for drug delivery.9,10
Another area to watch is the emergence of new materials. The use of biomaterials in contact lenses will continue to grow in the future. Contact lens material advancements have addressed long-standing issues such as oxygen permeability and biocompatibility, improving overall comfort, and duration of use.11-15
REFERENCES
1. Nichols JJ. The Contact Lens Event of 2014. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2015 Jan;30:11. Available at clspectrum.com/issues/2015/january/editor8217s-perspective. Accessed 2024 Nov 22.
2. Nichols JJ. Contact Lenses 2014. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2015 Jan;30:22-27. Available at clspectrum.com/issues/2015/january/contact-lenses-2014. Accessed 2014 Nov 22.
3. Holden BA, Evans K. 2004: What’s Next in Contact Lenses? Contact Lens Spectrum. 2004 Sep;19. Available at clspectrum.com/issues/2004/september/2004-whats-next-in-contact-lenses. Accessed 2024 Nov 22.
4. Nichols JJ. We Should Be Fitting More Multifocal Lenses. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2014 Feb;39:13. Available at clspectrum.com/issues/2014/february/editors-perspective. Accessed 2024 Nov 22.
5. Contact Lens Spectrum Staff. Alcon to License “Smart Lens” Technology. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2014 Aug;39:3. Available at clspectrum.com/issues/2014/august/news-spectrum. Accessed 2024 Dec 6.
6. Shokrollahi P. Material Science Innovation. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2024 Jun;39:34. Available at clspectrum.com/issues/2024/june/fast-forward-to-the-future. Accessed 2024 Dec 6.
7. Seo H, Chung WG, Kwon YW, et al. Smart Contact Lenses as Wearable Ophthalmic Devices for Disease Monitoring and Health Management. Chem Rev. 2023 Oct 11;123:11488-11558.
8. Bamgboje D, Christoulakis I, Smanis I, et al. Continuous Non-Invasive Glucose Monitoring via Contact Lenses: Current Approaches and Future Perspectives. Biosensors. 2021 Jun 9;11:189.
9. Hui A. CL Drug Delivery for Dry Eye Treatment. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2022 Jul;37:12-13. Available at clspectrum.com/issues/2022/july/research-review. Accessed 2024 Dec 6.
10. Nagaarudkumaran N. Potential Future Ocular Drug Delivery Technologies. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2022 Aug;37:14. Available at clspectrum.com/issues/2022/august/fast-forward-to-the-future. Accessed 2024 Dec 6.
11. Ishihara K, Shi X, Fukazawa K, Yamaoka T, Yao G, Wu JY. Biomimetic-Engineered Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lens Materials. ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2023 Aug 24;6:3600-3616.
12. Mao T, Fang F. Biomimetic Functional Surfaces towards Bactericidal Soft Contact Lenses. Micromachines (Basel). 2020 Aug 31;11:835.
13. Ishihara K. Biomimetic materials based on zwitterionic polymers toward human-friendly medical devices. Sci Technol Adv Mater. 2022 Sep 13;23:498-524.
14. Gao L, Zhao X, Zhang Y, et al. Bioinspired Polysaccharide Derivative with Efficient and Stable Lubrication for Silicon-Based Devices. Biomacromolecules. 2022 Sep 12;23:3766−3778.
15. Capote-Puente R, Sánchez-González J-M, Sánchez-González MC, Bautista-Llamas M-J. Evaluation of Celligent® Biomimetic Water Gradient Contact Lens Effects on Ocular Surface and Subjective Symptoms. Diagnostics (Basel). 2023 Mar 27;13:1258.
![]({"src":"/media/dvsf1uun/cover.jpg","focalPoint":null,"crops":[{"alias":"thumbnail","width":1110,"height":700,"coordinates":null}]})
