Contact Lens Institute (CLI) has released Profitability Perspectives: Rethinking the Value of Contact Lenses, an in-depth report focused on contact lens and glasses patient profitability factors. Primary data collection informed the first-ever study of its kind for the U.S. market, with findings that demonstrate clear practice management upsides of contact lens prescribing. It is available at profitabilityperspectives.com.
The publication includes multiple tools to help practices assess potential upsides (e.g., incremental and lifetime gain models and worksheets), video and written guidance from CLI Visionaries, and a 90-day implementation plan. It also incorporates a retrospective review of prior CLI See Tomorrow initiative quantitative research that demonstrates how and why contact lenses are valued by wearers and potential wearers.
“Contact lens wear can often signal a deeper, more durable relationship between patient and practice fostered by clinical expertise, convenience, added choice, and trust. The economic advantages identified in our new report are measurable results of that patient-centered care,” said Stan Rogaski, CLI’s executive director.
Research Methodology & Financial Impact
Profitability Perspectives builds on topline outcomes conveyed by an independent research team: Professor Philip Morgan of the University of Manchester, Professor Lyndon Jones of CORE at the University of Waterloo, and Professors Ash Morgan and John Whitehead of the Department of Economics at Appalachian State University. Beyond illustrating the 29% to 86% higher annual profits associated with contact lens patients compared to eyeglasses-only patients, their aggregated data encompasses exam frequencies, age and gender, and practice costs.
Between November 2025 and May 2026, the researchers obtained data sets from 20 optometry offices located in communities across the U.S., representing a mix of practice settings and geographies. These included four years of revenues and expenses for 600 patients specific to different types of vision correction use, as well as several data points from those patients’ most recent representative purchase.
The investigators write that, “The work shows that contact lens wearers are more profitable to an optometric practice than people using eyeglasses alone. We believe that this is a meaningful finding in its own right but note that this enhanced profitability only comes about due to the performance of contemporary contact lens products; this commercial upside is a downstream effect of patient satisfaction and clinical success.”
CLI will amplify the report and its findings beginning at the American Academy of Optometry 2026 Annual Meeting, which runs from September 30 to October 3 in Anaheim, Calif. It previously made available one-minute takes on the findings in a 12-part YouTube video series featuring three of the researchers, available at https://tinyurl.com/CLProfits.
