Russians began to refuse contact lenses

Two weeks of good vision today cost 2500 rubles

The cost of glasses is comparable to a smartphone: pay once – and use until it breaks (or until there is a need for a more advanced model). The cost of contact lenses is comparable to toothpaste or toilet paper: if you use it, get ready to buy regularly and constantly keep in mind if you have run out. It is no wonder that in the conditions of the financial crisis, many preferred to abandon lenses in favor of glasses: beauty is beauty, but not everyone is ready to constantly pay for the effect of a “clean face”.

Prices for contact lenses have increased, but at the same time, Russians have become less likely to buy them, according to the results of a study conducted by one of the analytical agencies in the first half of 2023. Experts came to the conclusion that the average check for the purchase of reusable (most often designed for a month) contact lenses today is 1835 rubles, and this is 3% more than it was a year ago. At the same time, sales decreased by 19%.

The situation is even worse with one-day contact lenses: here the average check is 2,670 rubles, which is 5% higher than last year. At the same time, Russians began to buy lenses 27% less often. However, there may be a fairly simple explanation here – the panic that led to hysterical purchases for the future (due to which both the average check and the volume of purchases increased) receded today.

Let’s remember what happened in this market. In February 2022, literally on the eve of the next wave of Western sanctions and the mass exodus of foreign brands from Russia, a box of thirty one-day contact lenses (for 15 days of use) cost about 1,800 rubles, and a box of 90 pieces (for 45 days) cost about 5,000 rubles. Already in March – immediately after the start of mass hysteria and reports that, they say, lens manufacturers are going to curtail business in Russia – the cost of a large 90-lens box soared up to 12-15 thousand rubles, and it became not so easy to find the diopters you need Just. Users, frightened by reports of a possible departure of the brand, bought packs of lenses – much like they bought tampons and pads in the spring of 2022. No wonder: the absence of even lenses, even tampons, can make life so difficult.

The second wave of consumer panic occurred in the spring of 2023, when another “duck” appeared about the imaginary withdrawal from the Russian market of one of the largest companies producing contact lenses. Here, however, the sellers of optics have already oriented themselves, and were ready to offer alternatives.

— Have you tried these Japanese ones? – the pharmacist answers a question with a question when I ask if there are many supplies of lenses of the diopters I need. – Take a box at least for a sample. You see: they are slightly cheaper than American ones, now they cost 1,700 rubles for 30 pieces, but they have very good reviews.

Well, researching online reviews is a matter of ten minutes these days. It quickly becomes clear: yes, they are really good, but not without reservations. Many wearers complain that Japanese lenses pull moisture out of the eye much more than American lenses, so that the feeling of “pour sand in the eyes” becomes quite unpleasant by the end of the day. “It looks like the lenses I used in the 90s,” someone admits. – It seems not bad, but if you compare, then they do not withstand any criticism. In the American ones, it happened, I even fell asleep, and there was nothing critical.

Today, the average cost of a box of 30 one-day lenses made in the USA is 2,500 rubles, and a box of 90 lenses is about 6,900 rubles: marketplaces offer the necessary goods for such prices.

Acquisition of glasses – once and for a long time! – really seems to be much more profitable against this background. The average check for glasses in 2023 was 4,766 rubles, and sales increased by 15%. At the same time, it is specified that more and more often Russians prefer inexpensive options with a plastic frame – the most budgetary that can be found in opticians.