Purpose: COVID-19 has had an unprecedented global impact, including on contact lens (CL) practice A survey was conducted with CL wearers to understand the effect on usage and wear behaviour changes during the pandemic Methods: A pulse survey was conducted from April 2020;60 wearers (18-55 years) were surveyed weekly online in China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Germany* and France* (*3rd/4th week) by an independent market research company (Verve) Surveys are continuing in May/June;data presented will show attitudes over time and between countries as controls are lifted Results: A total of 2399 wearer surveys were completed in 11 countries during April Results here are combined and averaged across countries for the four weekly waves 53% were 18-34 years, 46% 35-54 years;57% female The majority (67%) were staying at home 80% agreed (strongly/slightly) CLs were essential to everyday life although 50% agreed they view them as luxury item 61% agreed they only wear CLs when not at home (work, activities, socialising) Mean number days worn/month: pre-pandemic 20;during 14 (p &lt; 0 05);expected post-pandemic 19 75% historically wore CLs most of the day;52% (p &lt; 0 05) during;70% expect to return to pre-pandemic wear Key reasons for wearing CLs less were giving eyes a break (34%), concerns over hygiene/CV-19 (34%) and not currently leaving home (work/activities 29%;socialising 25%) CL-buying frequency is minimally impacted to date and is expected to return to normal levels Conclusions: This large-scale global survey highlights that while CL use has decreased, due to different wear needs and hygiene concerns, most wearers intend to return to pre-pandemic usage Purchasing frequency has been minimally impacted These insights help ECPs consider ways to support wearers during and post-pandemic with tips on lens wear/care and easy options for product availability to help maintain their CL business
Global contact lens wear and purchase behaviour during COVID-19 times