Global Scleral Lens Market Size

Scleral Lens Market Analysis

The scleral lens market is expected to register a CAGR of 4.2% over the forecast period, 2022-2027.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic harmed the world economy and the healthcare system. The lockdown around the globe has affected the supply chain of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and biotechnological products. On the other hand, R&D has come into focus. All the government agencies and healthcare players have come forward to support the development of diagnostics and treatment methods for COVID-19. In the case of scleral lenses, a survey conducted by Euro lens Research (University of Manchester) in April 2020 found that 75% of scleral lens wearers reported reductions in the use of these lenses due to lockdowns and the limited supply of daily/weekly-wear lenses. Furthermore, the major market players, such as Bausch + Lomb, Visionary Optics & AccuLens, showed declining sales owing to decreased operations. This led prominent as well as emerging companies to change their business strategies to adapt. Thus, the scleral lens market shows a negative growth impact in pandemic due to a continuous decrease in sales of the key players.

Scleral lenses are used to correct vision defects such as myopia, irregular cornea, ocular surface disease, refractive error, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia. The increase in the prevalence of this disease is expected to drive the scleral lens market over the forecast period. As per the World Health Organization, the prevalence of myopia is highest in East Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, a, and Singapore. As per the National Center for Biotechnology Information article published in 2019, by 2050, myopia and high myopia are both expected to affect ~4,949 million and ~925 million people, respectively, globally. The growing cases of myopia and increasing spending on ophthalmic products, such as scleral lenses, as a corrective measure for refractive errors, are expected to drive the growth of the scleral lenses market in the future.

With a huge population base, developing countries worldwide, including Mexico, BRIC, India, China and South Africa, offers potential growth opportunities for contact lens manufacturers. As China and India has the highest population as compared to other countries; this countries are generating need for scleral wear due to increasing eye defects owing to the increasing geriatric population in the region. The geriatric population is estimated to increase from 548 million in 2019 to nearly 1.3 billion by 2050, that would drive the prevalence of age-related eye diseases in the region. Rising awareness of eye disorders, changing lifestyles, growing per capita spending, and market saturation in emerging economies are also encouraging market players to expand their presence in these emerging economies.

Therefore, owing to the aforementioned factors the studied market is anticipated to witness growth over the analysis period. However, careless usage could harm eyesight and a lack of well-equipped practitioners are likely to impede the market growth.