Demand for silicone hydrogels increases

The UK contact lens market was worth £179.7m in 2006, made up of sales of over 471 million contact lenses, with demand for silicone hydrogels rapidly rising, according to figures published this week by the Association of Contact Lens Manufacturers (ACLM).

The ACLM data reveal that in terms of market value daily disposables lenses account for 53 per cent, followed by soft frequent replacement lenses (20 per cent), silicone hydrogels (18 per cent), soft traditional lenses (4 per cent) and rigid lenses (5 per cent).

Figures also showed that more than 1.2 million people (36 per cent of contact lens wearers) in the UK wear daily disposable lenses and that the number of silicone hydrogel users has grown by around 50 per cent since 2005 at nearly 640,000 (19 per cent of wearers).