With Cataract Awareness Month underway, global attention is being directed toward the staggering number of individuals grappling with visual impairments, particularly cataracts. Intraocular lenses (IOLs), artificial lenses that replace clouded natural lenses, are crucial in treating such cases. Forecasted to grow from $4.1 billion in 2022 to nearly $5.0 billion by 2033, the IOL market’s expansion is propelled by the increasing capacity of healthcare facilities worldwide to conduct cataract surgeries, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
According to World Health Organization, globally 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment. Cataracts most frequently occur because of age-related degenerative processes in the lens. Since cataracts can only be treated with surgery, typically only moderate to severe cases undergo treatment, whereby the eye’s lens is replaced with an IOL.
Brian Hicks, Senior Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The rise in the prevalence of cataracts and refractive error around the globe has compelled governments to start initiatives to lower the number of patients suffering from partial or complete blindness. GlobalData expects an increase in the number of eye surgeries and the use of IOLs for both cataracts and refractive errors in the next decade.”
There are several types of IOLs, which are categorized based on aspects such as their composition material, focal lengths, and whether they are toric. These include advanced-technology intraocular lenses, which include aspheric IOLs, toric IOLs, multifocal IOLs, and accommodative IOLs. These have significantly shifted way in which cataracts are managed today.
Hicks concludes: “Newer IOL technologies, including trifocal, quadrifocal, and extended-depth-of-focus (EDOF) lenses, have been instrumental in providing spectacle-free vision at all distances. While the existing monofocal lenses continue to dominate the market at present, the newer IOL technologies are expected to slowly catch up and increase their market share among all types of lenses.”
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