An international survey of daily disposable contact lens prescribing

Abstract

Purpose:The aim was to determine the extent of daily disposable contact lens prescribing worldwide and to characterise the associated demographics and fitting patterns. Methods: Up to 1,000 survey forms were sent to contact lens fitters in up to 40 countries between January and March every year for five consecutive years (2007 to 2011). Practitioners were asked to record data relating to the first 10 contact lens fits or refits performed after receiving the survey form. Survey data collected since 1996 were also analysed for seven nations to assess daily disposable lens fitting trends since that time. Results: Data were collected in relation to 97,289 soft lens fits, of which 23,445 (24.1 per cent) were with daily disposable lenses and 73,170 (75.9 per cent) were with reusable lenses. Daily disposable lens prescribing ranged from 0.6 per cent of all soft lenses in Nepal to 66.2 per cent in Qatar. Compared with reusable lens fittings, daily disposable lens fittings can be characterised as follows: older age (30.0 Ϯ 12.5 versus 29.3 Ϯ 12.3 years for reusable lenses); males are over-represented; a greater proportion of new fits versus refits; 85.9 per cent hydrogel; lower proportion of toric and presbyopia designs and a higher proportion of part-time wear. There has been a continuous increase in daily disposable lens prescribing between 1996 and 2011. The proportion of daily disposable lens fits (as a function of all soft lens fits) is positively related to the gross domestic product at purchasing power parity per capita (r 2 = 0.55, F = 46.8, p < 0.0001). Conclusions:The greater convenience and other benefits of daily disposable lenses have resulted in this modality capturing significant market share. The contact lens field appears to be heading toward a true single-use-only, disposable lens market.

A multi-country assessment of compliance with daily disposable contact lens wear

“…Participant demographics did not vary between countries with respect to sex, and overall 66% of the participants completing the questionnaire were female, which is consistent with the proportion of DDCL wearers internationally [1]. With a median age of 38 years, the participants were slightly older than the mean reported for worldwide contact lens prescribing [1,16].…”

“…These countries were selected because they have different approaches to lens prescribing and supply [1]. Norway has an extremely high proportion of DDCL wearers (44%) [16].…”

“…Daily disposable contact lenses (DDCLs) are becoming increasingly popular among patients and eye care practitioners (ECPs) worldwide [1,2]. In addition to the benefits and convenience of a fresh new lens each day and no requirement for a contact lens care system, this modality of lens wear has been shown to offer many health benefits when compared with reusable contact lenses [3].…”

Trends of contact lens prescribing in Jordan

“…The data obtained from Jordan is relatively similar to data obtained from Australia [4], but cannot be compared to US trend [5] due to predominance of bi-weekly replacement lenses which are advocated by the practitioners and industry in the US. Efron et al [15] found a positive correlation between the number of daily disposable lens fits and gross domestic products of the country, and this analysis may be applied to Jordan. It is expected that if daily disposable lenses become more affordable, Jordanian lens market would shift away from monthly to daily disposables.…”

Structural design of contact lens-based drug delivery systems; in vitro and in vivo studies of ocular triggering mechanisms

“…The present contact lens market encompasses many materials for a wide range of replacement (disposable, planned and conventional) and wear schedules (daily, extended and continuous wear) [8,9]. Whereas the primary cosmetic role of contact lenses is vision correction, therapeutic indications for use of bandage lenses include pain relief, corneal protection and enhancement of corneal wound healing [10][11][12].…”