Cataract lasers mkt. to hit $2.4 B by 2019, study forecasts

Lexington, MA-The worldwide market for cataract surgery lasers is forecast to exceed $2.4 billion by 2019, according to a recent study conducted by WinterGreen Research Inc.

WinterGreen’s published report, Femtosecond Lasers for Cataract Surgery Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2013-2018, details how femtosecond laser technology represents a paradigm shift in treating patients with cataracts. The study attributes the driving force behind femtosecond lasers’ market dominance to the ever-increasing aging baby boom population.

Because of the simultaneous change in demographics and the introduction of automated cataract surgery, eyecare professionals face an explosion in demand for their services over the next 20 years. The aging baby boomers and the fact that patients older than 65 consume 10 times the eye care of patients younger than 65 creates unprecedented demand for cataract surgery.

As a result, growing needs and expectations for good vision in all ranges have created significant new market opportunities, expanding demand for multifocal and accommodating IOLs designed to correct presbyopia, aspheric optics that address spherical aberration and make vision sharper, and phakic IOLs allowing treatment of extreme refractive error.

“Superior image quality brings clinical improvement. Patients are thrilled when they can see so much more clearly,” said Susan Eustis, president and co-founder of WinterGreen Research, and lead author of the research team.