The Contact Lens Institute (CLI) has published a report examining US consumers’ most valued goods and services in the context of inflationary pressures, with contact lenses (CLs) and glasses coming out on top. 

The organisation’s analysis affirms the value patients place on their vision and contact lenses, correlated with strong category purchasing power. It also reveals several contact lens-related behaviours may change with personal financial challenges and advises the eyecare community to proactively address these potential shifts. 

Respondents ranked their contact lenses (84%) and glasses (75%) as extremely or very important—the highest scores among 26 categories of goods and services. When asked about how inflationary pressures had altered household spending, contact lenses (8%) and glasses (7%) exhibited the least change. 

Authors advised eyecare professionals to be alert to financially triggered behaviour changes that could put eye health at risk, with about one in four people saying they may seek less expensive options in the face of financial pressure, whether online (27%) or through their eyecare professional (26%). Risky behaviours included wearing their lenses for more days than approved (24%), ‘topping off’ cleaning solution (12%) and using less cleaning solution when rinsing and storing lenses (11%). 

The report also includes recommendations on how practices can improve the perceived value of CLs. The most popular option (40%) was offering a discount on eyeglasses for backup purposes. Also ranked highly were three offers already at practices’ disposal, which authors argued would likely benefit from more explicit positioning as value-added products: free trials of upgraded lenses, temporary lenses while an order is being fulfilled, and CL solution and rewetting drop samples.  

The poll included 2,439 adults, with 251 active contact lens wearers answering a series of detailed questions. The report, entitled Remarkable Resilience: Prescribing Contact Lenses in a Challenging Economy, is available at www.seetomorrownow.com/.