A couple of weeks ago I received a call from my wife's friend, Lisa, who wanted some optical advice. Lisa is an attractive woman who takes a lot of care with her appearance and looks younger than her 47 years. A presbyope with a -1.25 add, she has been getting by with ready-made readers.

 

Andrew Karp

Lisa told me her vision is changing and she knows the readers alone won't do the trick anymore. Looking for an alternative, she had purchased a vision therapy program on a trial basis she had found on the internet. Developed by an optometrist, it promised customers they would no longer need eyeglasses if they just performed some simple daily eye exercises.

I'm not an optometrist, but I know presbyopia results from a hardening of the crystalline lens which causes a loss of accommodation. Vision therapy won't help.

"Have you ever tried progressive lenses?" I asked Lisa. She said she knew about progressives, but would only consider them as a last resort. "Wearing glasses makes me look old," she remarked. "Isn't there something else I can do?"

Lisa's aversion to eyeglasses may be indicative of a small but growing trend among consumers who are opting for other forms of vision correction. According to Vision Watch, a large-scale consumer survey conducted by Jobson Research, the U.S. population age 18 and over increased by 7.6 million people, or 3.6 percent between Sept. 2002 and Sept. 2004. Yet eyeglass usage decreased by one million people, less than one percent, while contact lens use rose by six million people, or 14 percent. In addition, four hundred thousand more people had refractive surgery, a whopping 99 percent increase in the two-year period.

The Vision Watch data also indicates that eyeglass use is declining more among the 18 to 34 age category, which makes up 31.1 percent of the population, although is it up among the 45 and over age category, especially among those 55 and over.

While the reasons for these shifts are still unclear, it's important for eyecare practitioners to realize that consumers' attitudes about eyewear are changing. The more ECPs can learn about and understand their own patients' perceptions, the more they can adjust their mix of eyewear products and services accordingly. That could mean finding ways to make eyeglasses more appealing, or putting more emphasis on contact lenses or refractive surgery.

By the way, Lisa returned the vision therapy program. When we last spoke, she was investigating multifocal contact lenses.