If 2025 felt like a strange year for your practice—fewer patients, fewer transactions, but steady or even stronger gross revenue—you weren’t imagining it.
According to The Vision Council’s latest "Market inSights 2025 with 2026 Forecast," the US optical market reached an estimated $69.5 billion in total market value in 2025, up 4.4% year over year, even as unit volume declined across nearly all major product categories. Consumers in the United States bought fewer optical products and underwent fewer eye exams, yet overall spending increased.
That combination makes 2025 unusual, and it also carries an important message for eyecare providers: Growth is no longer primarily about driving more transactions. Increasingly, it’s about helping patients choose better solutions for their needs.
The Shift Behind the Numbers
Across the market, value and volume moved in opposite directions. Eye exams, frames, and contact lenses all saw value growth despite declines in volume, while ophthalmic lenses experienced declines in both value and volume. The most telling example is prescription eyewear: Frame unit volume fell about 3% in 2025, while frame value increased roughly 8%. In other words, fewer frames sold but at meaningfully higher price points.
This pattern points to 2 forces working together. First, inflation and cost pressure, including tariffs, pushed prices higher. Second, and just as important, consumers showed a willingness to trade up when the perceived benefit was clear. During parts of 2025, patients paid more out of pocket for frames and relied less on discounting than in prior years, even before tariff-driven price increases fully reached retail.
What the data shows is a clear move toward value-driven decision-making. Economic pressure didn’t push consumers out of the market; it made them more selective.
What Patients Are Doing Differently
Replacement cycles lengthened, particularly among patients without vision benefits. Those without managed vision care coverage replaced prescription glasses roughly 6 months later, on average, than those with coverage.
At the same time, patients were selective about where they spent. Some opted for budget solutions, while others invested in premium options tied to comfort, durability, or performance. Sunglasses illustrated this clearly: It was the only major category to post both value and unit volume growth in 2025, reflecting strength at both low and high price points.
What This Means in the Exam Room
Practices that center what the patient values will likely be most successful in this market.
1. Anchor the conversation in what the patient values most.
Not every patient wants “premium,” but every patient values something—comfort for long days in front of screens, durability for kids, visual performance for driving, or budget certainty. Start there, then connect lens designs, coatings, and frame materials directly to that priority.
2. Present fewer, better-defined options.
An overwhelming wall of choices can backfire in a value-seeking environment. Curated good-better-best presentations, with clear tradeoffs explained in plain language, help patients feel confident rather than pressured.
3. Make the upgrade tangible.
When volume is down, upgrades matter more. Demonstration tools, real-world comparisons, and simple explanations of why a higher-priced option performs better can justify the spend and build trust at the same time.
Looking Ahead
Our 2026 forecast suggests this dynamic isn’t going away overnight. We expect consumers to continue spending, but cautiously, with value front and center. That puts eyecare providers in a powerful position, not just as sellers of products, but as translators of value. In a year when growth came from trading up instead of showing up more often, the practices that succeed will be the ones that help patients see, not just better, but smarter.
Alysse Henkel is the vice president of research and insights at The Vision Council.