Presbyopia Expected to Impact Billions Worldwide

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Presbyopia affects nearly 1.7 billion people worldwide today, and that number is expected to soar to 2.1 billion by 2020.¹ In the U.S., this population is expected to grow from nearly 111 million to approximately 123 million by 2020, representing an increase of more than 36 percent of the population within the next seven years.¹ As a result, eye care professionals (ECP) could expect to see an increase in the number of patients experi­encing vision issues due to presbyopia. Despite the growing number of peo­ple worldwide with presbyopia, only 10 percent in the U.S. think or know to discuss with their ECP changes in their vision that may be caused by presbyopia.² ECPs must be prepared to educate patients about the condition, the need for treatment to correct presbyopia, and what vision correction options are available. An April 2012 news story, published in Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today Europe, positioned presbyopia as a significant and emotional event in an adult’s life and said that the vision issue represents the first sign of aging that they could not hide.³ The arti­cle also mentioned that many people with presbyopia feel that reading glasses made them feel old,³ and rather than seeking proper vision treatment, find workarounds to compensate for vision loss, such as stretching arms out to read fine print. Many presbyopic consumers are not even aware of multifocal contact lenses and that they can help correct presbyopia. In fact, only 18 percent of presbyopes in the U.S. were aware that multifocal con­tact lenses are a vision correction option for presbyopia.² Multifocal contact lenses are designed to help with all stages of presbyopia and may be the best option for those people with presbyopia who may prefer wearing contact lenses to correct their vision needs. AIR OPTIX® AQUA Multifocal contact lenses are the leading multifocal contact lenses avail­able, and provide uninterrupted binocular vi­sion near through far and outstanding all-day comfort from day one through day 30.

1.Market Scope, Global Presbyopia-Correcting Surgery Market Report, April 2012.

2.AOAMF Global Multifocal Penetration/Market Assessment study on U.S., Germany, Japan markets, March 2011.

3.Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today Europe; April 2012.