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Vision Council: Number of eye exams in U.S. steadily increasing
NEW YORK — The number of eye exams performed in 2010 was up 7.7% over 2009, according to results from the Vision Council's Vision Watch survey. Vision Council director of industry research, Steve Kodey, presented the survey results at a Vision Council Statistics Committee meeting here during International Vision Expo.
Contact lens sales are up 1.5%, and over-the-counter reader sales are up 7.9%, he said. Frame sales were down 3.1%, lens sales were down 2.1%, sunglass sales were down 11.1% and refractive surgery procedures were down 24%.
Independent eye care practitioners made up the largest portion of 2010 optical retail sales, with $13.8 billion in revenue, Mr. Kodey said. "The reason the independents were so successful last year was because of the increase in exams they had," he said. "There were an extra 600,000 exams.
"The conventional chains generated $7.51 billion in revenue last year, about two-thirds of the independents' revenue," Mr. Kodey continued. "Their revenues are down 5.2%, with a loss of $411 million in sales. Their exam level is up, as are readers and contact lenses, but it can't make up for the huge losses in eyeglass sales — $350 million over the last 3 years."
The loss in plano sunglass sales was $60 million in the last 3 years, he added.