Two- thirds of all CL wearers are female

The average age of patients having contact lens fitted in the UK is 35.1 years, the highest mean age in an analysis of more than 22,000 contact lens fits in 27 countries in 2008.

This is just one of the findings from a new report on worldwide contact lens prescribing patterns presented by co-author Dr Philip Morgan at the BCLA European Day in London earlier this month.

The report revealed that overall two-thirds of patients fitted with contact lenses were female. The average age at fitting was 29.9 years, with a difference of a decade between the UK, the country with the highest mean rate, and the lowest, Lithuania, at 24.9 years.