The next speaker, Mr. Alain P tard , Vice-President, Joint Venture Business at Essilor International in France presented an Overview of Today's Presbyopia Market . There are 1.5 billion presbyopes in the world today, that is growing faster than the total population. Among the corrected presbyopes, the majority choose single vision lenses with the remaining correction options equally distributed between progressive addition lenses, bi-trifocals and readers. Mr. P tard then reviewed certain cultural differences. In Europe and Japan, most presbyopes wear single vision lenses.
Lenses are the primary means for presbyopia correction.
Among the alternatives, PAL's are the 'hot segment' for lenses. This is a largely untapped market which will keep growing in the future. Mr. P tard noted that progressive addition lenses come with a very rich mix of high tech materials and coatings. Research reveals clearly that the great majority of presbyopia correction is made with spectacle lenses. More than half of all presbyopes remain uncorrected, so this is the biggest market - men and women with uncorrected presbyopia.