Each year, the professional eye care journal Contact Lens Spectrum conducts and commissions market research about contact lenses and the contact lens industry.

In this month’s issue, the journal reports on the status of contact lenses in 2009. Here are some of the findings:

• The current worldwide soft contact lens market is estimated at $5.3 billion, while the U.S. soft lens market is estimated at $2.0 billion.
• Most contact lens wearers (84 percent) return to their eye doctor for a comprehensive eye exam every year, whereas most patients who don’t wear contact lenses (61 percent) have complete eye exams every two years.
• Silicone hydrogel contact lenses were used in approximately 60 percent of new contact lens fittings and refits in the U.S. in 2009, whereas standard hydrogel lenses were used in 29 percent of fittings and gas permeable contact lenses were used in 9 percent.
• Spherical soft lenses (for correction of nearsightedness or farsightedness only) were used for 50 percent of contact lens fittings in the U.S. in 2009, followed by soft toric lenses to correct astigmatism (25 percent) and soft multifocal lenses to correct presbyopia (12 percent).
• Most contact lens patients wear their lenses on a daily wear basis, using either a two-week (40 percent) or monthly (40 percent) replacement schedule.
• About 11 percent of soft contact lens wearers in the U.S. were fit with daily disposable contacts in 2009. This is a significantly lower percentage compared with Europe (38 percent) and Asia (54 percent).
• Approximately 80 percent of eye care practitioners in the U.S. recommend multipurpose contact lens solutions for lens care, whereas 20 percent recommend hydrogen peroxide-based lens care systems.

SOURCE: Contact Lenses 2009. Contact Lens Spectrum. January 2010.