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Industry report shows increases in Rx lens market

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The sale of prescription spectacle lenses went up 1.3% from last year and 2.7% from 2 years ago, according to VisionWatch, a survey conducted by the Vision Council.

As detailed in the report, 78.5 million pairs of lenses were sold in the U.S. in the 12 months ending June 2014.

Specifically, the report noted increased sales of progressive and single vision lenses.

"There were about 4.7 million to 4.8 million pairs of free-form progressive lenses purchased by American consumers during the 12-month period ending June 2014," the report said. "That is up by about 10.6% over the previous 12-month period — after growing at a slower rate for the previous 2 years. The increase in digitally surfaced free-form progressive lens sales means that the 10.6% growth rate during the 12-month period ending June 2014 is significantly higher than total Rx lens sales, or traditional progressive lens sales, during the 12-month period ending June 2014. In fact, sales of traditional, non-digital/free-form progressive lenses were up just 0.1%."

According to the report, the most significant year-to-year growth in the market was in progressive lenses, but single vision lenses achieved similar growth.

The Vision Council’s report read: "During the 12-month period ending June 2014 more than 40.2 million pairs of single vision lenses were sold, representing a ‘net increase’ of 800,000 pairs when compared to sales metrics from the 12-month period ending June 2013."

However, the report also found a decline in the multifocal market.

"There were 15.2 million pairs of multifocal lenses sold during the 12-month period ending June 2014, which is down by 100,000 pairs over the number of multifocal sold during the 12-month period ending June 2013 (-1.1%)," according to Vision Watch. "Sales of multifocal lenses have been falling over the past year most among men, Americans under the age of 55, adults from higher-income households, residents of the Southeast U.S. and people using managed vision care benefits when making an Rx lens purchase."