Contact lens market shows slight growth

The contact lens market in the UK grew by 2.3 per cent in 2018, to £21.4m, according to the latest statistics from the Association of Contact Lens Manufacturers (ACLM).

The ACLM also reported that the contact lens market in 2018 was worth £292m, representing an increase of four per cent from 2017. The UK market is reportedly the largest in Europe, accounting for around 22 per cent of wearers, and was made up of the sale of over 789 million contact lenses. The market value of daily disposables was now 72 per cent, or 59 per cent by number of wearers. Silicone hydrogel lenses now accounted for 90 per cent by value of the weekly/bi-weekly and monthly markets.

In total, there are more than 3.6 million contact lens wearers in the UK, which represents at least 8.7 per cent of the adult population, the ACLM concluded.