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What is the market size of the contact lens industry in the US?
Hello! Thank you for your questions about the U.S contact lens market.
The short version is that the contact lens market worth $3 billion in the US with 86 manufacturers. 16.7% of U.S adult population use contact lenses. The biggest manufacturers, both for contact lenses in general and soft contact lenses in particular, are Johnson & Johnson, Alcon Laboratories, CooperVision and Bausch & Lomb. Together, they occupy 69% of the market. Contact lenses are regulated by different bodies and under different laws in the US and Europe. However, in both regions, they are considered to be medical devices and require prescriptions. Below, you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
I have used statistics published in the period from 2014 to 2016 by various independent organizations. The government authorities also provide helpful document and guidelines about the supply of optometric services.
This report will first describe the current trend in the US contact lens market and then soft lens market in specific. An overview of the regulations in America, the European Union, and the UK will be discussed at the end.
CONTACT LENS MARKET IN THE US
According to a report from IBIS World in June 2016, there are 86 contact lenses manufacturers in the US. The market size in 2016 was $3 billion. The industry's growth is showing an upward trend with the annual rate from 2011 to 2016 staying at 5.3% and the global revenue is expected to exceed $12 billion US by 2020.
The majority of contact lenses manufacturers in the US are small firms occupying a small niche market: people with specific eyes disorders. On the other hand, the biggest players having the largest shares in the market are the international firms with a long history and well-established reputation in the US. Johnson & Johnson, Alcon Laboratories, CooperVision and Bausch & Lomb accounted for 69% of total category sales in 2015.
It is estimated that there are 40.9 million contact lens wearers aged 18 and over, accounting for 16.7% of U.S adult population. Two-thirds of contact lenses wearers are female and 50% of buyers are aged between 25 to 44 years old.
SOFT LENSES MARKET IN THE U.S
Soft lenses are the most popular in the contact lenses market. The American Optometric Association reported in 2003 that 80% of contact lenses wearer used soft lenses. Now, daily soft lenses take up 29% of lens volume in the US, weeklies soft lenses account for 33% of its categories and monthly soft lenses account for 38% of unit volume. US sales of soft contact lenses grew 5.2% from January 2015 to September 2015. 68% of contact lenses prescribed in the U.S were made from Silicone Hydrogel (SH) in 2015 and 20% made from the traditional hydrogel. On the other hand, if you divided contact lenses by its replacement frequency, the daily disposable contact lenses accounted for 69% of contact lenses and solution volume sales in the US in 2015.
All of the four biggest contact lenses manufacturers in the US offer soft lenses. The most popular brands of soft lenses made from silicone hydrogel include Acuvue Oasys (Vistakon), Air Optix Aqua (Alcon), Biofinity (CooperVision) and Pure Vision 2 (Bausch and Lomb).
REGULATIONS IN US AND EU
In the U.S, contact lenses are regulated by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FDA regulates contact lens as medical devices while the FTC ensure the fairness and clarity in trading and advertising practice relating to contact lenses. Under the Contact Lens Rules, which is extracted from the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act, a buyer is required to have a valid prescription to obtain contact lenses. US regulation is applied to any brand of contact lenses on the US market whether it is a Us company or a foreign one.
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he European Union (EU) requires also consumers to have a prescription to buy contact lenses. The Medical Devices Regulations 2002 regulates the manufacture and distribution of contact lenses. Recently, the EU Commission has just updated this regulation. It now includes plano contact lens as medical devices. EU's laws also override various regulations of its Member States. For example, Hungarian law forbids the sales of contact lenses on the Internet. The EU Court ruled against this on the basis that it would affect the free movement of goods between members and that the sale of medical devices online falls within the scope of the e-commerce directive.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, the market's revenue in 2016 was $3 billion. There are 86 manufacturers in the US. Soft lenses are the most popular and also provided by the biggest manufacturers on the market. A prescription is required to purchase contact lens both in the U.S and Europe. The industry is regulated by the FDA and FTC in the U.S while with the European Union, it is under the Medical Devices Regulations.
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