Contact lens
very thin plastic lens worn directly on the eye to correct visual defects
Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide in 2012, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons. In 2023, the worldwide market for contact lenses was estimated at $18.6 billion, with North America accounting for the largest share, over 38.18%. Multiple analysts estimated that the global market for contact lenses would reach $33.8 billion by 2030. As of 2010, the average age of contact lens wearers globally was 31 years old, and two-thirds of wearers were female.
People choose to wear contact lenses for many reasons. Aesthetics and cosmetics are main motivating factors for people who want to avoid wearing glasses or to change the appearance or color of their eyes. Others wear contact lenses for functional or optical reasons. Contact lens use is generally more costly than wearing glasses, with annual expenses typically ranging from about US$200 to US$1,000 depending on lens type and replacement schedule. When compared with glasses, contact lenses typically provide better peripheral vision, and do not collect moisture (from rain, snow, condensation, etc.) or perspiration.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Contact lens” as very thin plastic lens worn directly on the eye to correct visual defects. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as very thin plastic lens worn directly on the eye to correct visual defects. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23797. The Library of Congress control number is sh85031503. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 2023, 2030 and 2010.
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This entry incorporates text from “Contact lens” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.