Corneal topographer is a non-invasive imaging device that allows mapping and examination of the corneal surface. Topographer provides detailed description of various curvature and shape characteristics of cornea. Mapping the topography of cornea is important for assessing quality of vision as refractive power of the eye significantly depends on cornea and overall corneal health.

Corneal topography with topographers is used in cataract surgery (to study post-surgery astigmatism), in refractive surgery such as LASIK (to screen candidates for normal corneal shape, patterns and ruling out suspicious or keratoconic patterns) or in assessing contact lenses fitting. Moreover, it helps in determining the suspect of the Keratoconus (intraocular pressure imparts the cone shape to cornea), incision placement and intrastromal ring placement in keratoconus, and to study and diagnose corneal and ocular surface disorders such as pterygium, limbal dermoid, and localized corneal scars. Topographer thus, plays an important role in diagnosing and treating major eye diseases related with cornea.

Corneal Topographers Market - Market Dynamics

Increasing number of population facing cataract related eye problem and refractive error is a major factor contributing to significant growth of corneal topographer market. Moreover, the market is expected to witness positive growth with high prevalence of cataract and refractive error diseases worldwide, as corneal topographer is important imaging device to evaluate pre and post cataract and refractive error surgery.

According to the 2017 factsheet by World Health Organization (WHO), around 253 million people worldwide suffer from vision impairment, 36 million are blind, and 217 million have moderate to severe vision impairment. Moreover, the statistics indicate that refractive errors are the first cause of visual impairment and the second cause of visual loss worldwide, as 43% of visual impairments are attributed to refractive errors.

Moreover, international and national efforts to increase awareness about cataract would help improve cataract surgeries thereby increased use of corneal topographer, World Health Organization (WHO) and Task Force of International NGO have jointly prepared and launched a common agenda for global action called ‘The Vision 2020- the right to sight’ in 1999 with aim to eliminate blindness worldwide by 2020.

However, complications and post-surgery errors observed with LASIK surgeries to correct refractive error may deter the market growth. According to a report by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FAD), 2017, 45% of refractive error surgeries observe some form of error. Moreover, some clinicians prefer other technique such as optical biometry, pachymetry over corneal topography, which further may limit growth of the corneal topographer market.

Corneal Topographers Market - Regional Insights

On the basis of Geography, corneal topographers market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America is expected to hold dominant position in the corneal topographers market during forecast period. The U.S. has one of highest population of contact lens users in the world. According to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2017, around 45 million people in the U.S. wear contact lenses. The average age of contact lens wearers in the U.S. is 31 years. Corneal topographers would be of maximum utility for ophthalmologist and optician with such high user base for contact lens, which in turn is expected to boost growth of the corneal topographers market in the region.

Moreover, high preference for LASIK surgeries to correct nearsightedness and farsightedness is expected to propel growth of the market. This is owing to use corneal topographer in LASIK surgeries to evaluate the extent to which corneal changes are required to be done, with the help of topographic map of cornea. According to statistics by National Eye Institute in 2010, Astigmatism— the root cause for refractive errors, affects around 1 in every 3 people and may occur in combination with near- or farsightedness.

Asia Pacific is expected to witness a positive market growth, owing to high number of cataract patients and proportionate rise in cataract surgeries. According study published in Advanced Medical and Health Research in 2015, overall prevalence of blindness is 1.1%, the principal cause for this blindness is cataract (62.6%) which affects over 9 million people.

Corneal Topographers Market - Competitive Landscape

Key players operating in the corneal topographers Market include, Alcon plc., Abbott Laboratories, Topcon Corporation, Allergan, Inc., Essilor International SA, Bausch Health Companies, Inc., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., STAAR Surgical Company, NIDEK Co., Ltd., and Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc.

Key players are focused on launching novel topographers that are designed to use with specific application such as cataract surgery, contact lens fitting. Moreover, products that combine corneal topography with optical biometry, pachymetry and techniques for comprehensively measuring and assessing corneal surface are being developed. For instance,

In November 2017, Johnson and Johnson Vision granted with FDA approval for iDESIGN System for LASIK, for treatment of hyperopia – with and without astigmatism. The iDESIGN System requires less time for procedures as it can capture five different measurements such as wavefront aberrometry, wavefront refraction, corneal topography, keratometry, and pupillometry in a single capture sequence.
In January 2017, Topcon Medical System’s Aladdin Biometer with corneal topographer HW3.0 was granted with FDA approval for distribution in the U.S. New version of this topographic system consists of lens thickness, central pachymetry, and a generic toric IOL calculator that expands the capabilities of the device.
In 2016, Bausch + Lomb, introduced the ORBSCAN 3 anterior segment analyzer, which is the third generation of the multidimensional ORBSCAN topographer.

Corneal Topographers Market - Market Taxonomy

On the basis of products the global corneal topographers market is segmented into