Market overview

Eyeglasses compensate for refractive error (RE). Four common types of RE are myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness), astigmatism (combined near- and far-sightedness) and presbyopia (age-related far-sightedness). Presbyopia has a different root cause and as such is often considered a separate category (it is due to the hardening of lenses as a natural part of ageing which results in people losing their ability to accommodate or to change focus from far to near).

Refractive error can be corrected by eyeglasses, contact lenses, and/or laser surgery. Prescription glasses generally involve customized lenses that are mounted into frames to correct the individual aspects of each eye’s vision. These are typically worn continuously. The corrective power of lenses is indicated by dioptres (“D”). Ready- made reading glasses, on the other hand, only serve people with presbyopia, typically involving lower corrective powers. These are used for near-vision tasks only.