Every figure on this page links to the organization that produced it, and each was re-checked against that source before publishing. How U.S. optometry practices and optical shops use video and market themselves, and the evidence behind it: our own read of practice and shop homepages; how many optometrists, opticians and practices there are and what they earn; how far chains and large firms have consolidated eye care; who gets eye exams and who buys glasses and contacts online; how National Vision and Warby Parker use video, remote exams and virtual try-on; what eye-care videos on YouTube and TikTok contain and what patient-education video does; the FTC Eyeglass, Contact Lens and review rules; and where seven popular numbers came from.
20.2% of 341 U.S. optometry and optical shop homepages we read on November 1, 2026 showed a video player; 11.7% played a muted background clip and 6.2% embedded a YouTube player (our measurement). (Mark Studios)See details
That is less often than physical therapy clinics, chiropractic offices, veterinary practices or dental practices in same-day reads with the same method (20.2% against 24.1% to 35.0%). (Mark Studios)See details
73.3% of those homepages linked to Facebook and 59.8% showed testimonials or reviews, but only 3.8% offered a virtual try-on for frames. (Mark Studios)See details
BLS counted 42,790 wage and salary optometrist jobs in May 2025, 8.5% more than in 2019 (our calculation), and projects 10% growth to 2035. (BLS; our calculation)See details
The four largest optometry firms took 7.8% of office receipts in 2022, 2.3 times their 2017 share (our calculation); in optical retail the four largest took 61.5% of sales. (U.S. Census Bureau; our calculation)See details
National Vision offered remote eye exams over video in over 800 America's Best stores at the end of fiscal 2025, at least 75.7% of them (our calculation). (National Vision; our calculation)See details
In The Vision Council's Q3 2024 survey, only 14 percent of recent eyewear buyers bought online, but 40 percent of contact lens purchases were made online. (The Vision Council)See details
The AOA's "270 diseases" line rests on a vision insurer's list of conditions, 123 of them genetic or hereditary, not a detection rate; "80% of learning is visual" traces to a 2003 proclamation with no study behind it. (VSP Vision Care; Federal Register)See details
How many optometry and optical shop websites show video?
About one in five. On November 1, 2026 we opened the homepages of 400 U.S. optometry practices and optical shops drawn at random from OpenStreetMap, the open map database, and 20.2% of the 341 we could read showed a video player (our measurement). The frame was every U.S. optometrist or optician mapped in OpenStreetMap with a website: 1,983 distinct websites, with each chain website counted once however many stores it serves. Of the 400 sampled, 4 asked crawlers to stay away in robots.txt and were not visited, 3 showed a bot wall, 30 failed to load and 22 were parked, for sale or not eye-care sites. With the same method on the same day, eye-care homepages showed video less often than physical therapy clinics, chiropractic offices, veterinary practices or dental practices (20.2% against 31.2%, 31.2%, 24.1% and 35.0%, our comparison).
More than half of that video is a background loop. 11.7% of homepages played a muted video that starts on its own, 58.0% of the pages with any video (our calculation), and 13.5% carried a video file hosted on the practice's own site. 7.9% embedded a video from YouTube, Vimeo or a similar host, 6.2% a YouTube player. Of the pages with video, 56.5% used only self-hosted files. Homepages linked to Facebook 11.9 times as often as they embedded a YouTube player (our calculation).
On the homepage (341 readable U.S. optometry and optical shop sites, Nov 1, 2026)
Third-party scheduling tool (Solutionreach, 4PatientCare, RevolutionEHR and others)
32.8%
Patient testimonials or reviews
59.8%
Dry eye care mentioned
47.2%
Online store or contact lens ordering
38.1%
Insurance or vision plans mentioned
31.4%
Myopia control or ortho-k mentioned
25.5%
Careers or jobs link
18.5%
Names a frame or sunglass brand
11.1%
Shows a chain, private equity group or franchise
5.3%
Virtual try-on for frames
3.8%
Telehealth, virtual exams or online vision tests
1.5%
Vision plans are named less often than you might expect: VSP on 10.0% of homepages, EyeMed on 6.2%, Spectera on 4.7%, Davis Vision on 3.2% and Medicare on 4.7%. The most common scheduling tools were Solutionreach on 18 homepages, then 4PatientCare, RevolutionEHR, OpticalPOS and Eyefinity. A hand check of 30 randomly chosen pages agreed with the automatic video classification on all 30 (100.0%). The method, code and one row per sampled website are public: homepages.csv and crawl-summary.json. Only 8 chain homepages were readable, too few to compare chains with independent practices.
How many optometrists and opticians are there, and what do they earn?
BLS counted 42,790 wage and salary optometrist jobs in the U.S. in May 2025, at a median annual wage of $136,570 and a mean of $141,550 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics). Counting the self-employed, the Occupational Outlook Handbook puts optometrist jobs at about 45,100 in 2025 (BLS). Wage and salary jobs rose 8.5% from May 2019, when BLS counted 39,420, and the median wage rose 18.5% from $115,250, before inflation (our calculations). In Florida the median was $151,670 in May 2025 (BLS).
Most optometrists work in optometry offices. Offices of optometrists employed 27,340 of them in May 2025 (BLS), and BLS says 61% worked in offices of optometrists in 2025, with 14% in physicians' offices and 13% in retail (BLS). BLS projects optometrist employment to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average (BLS), to 49,400 jobs, with about 2,000 openings a year (BLS).
Opticians outnumber optometrists. Dispensing opticians held 73,530 wage and salary jobs in May 2025 at a median wage of $47,260 (BLS), little changed from 72,330 jobs in May 2019 (BLS). Offices of optometrists employed 31,920 opticians (BLS), 1.17 for every optometrist they employed (our calculation). The Handbook counts about 74,300 optician jobs and projects 4% growth to 2035, with about 5,600 openings a year (BLS); 43% of opticians work in offices of optometrists and 23% in general merchandise retailers such as warehouse clubs and supercenters (BLS).
The lab trade is shrinking. Ophthalmic laboratory technicians held 18,660 jobs in May 2025 at a median wage of $39,460 (BLS), against 29,150 in May 2019 (BLS), a fall of 36.0% (our calculation). BLS projects their number to move from about 18,600 in 2025 to 19,000 by 2035 (BLS).
Recruiting is a stated risk for the big chains. In its 10-K for fiscal 2025, National Vision reports "an increased degree of vision care professional shortages" and exam capacity constraints (National Vision 10-K), and says its ability to recruit telehealth optometrists may be affected by state boards (National Vision 10-K). Warby Parker's 2025 10-K lists failing to recruit and retain optometrists, opticians and other eye care professionals as a material risk (Warby Parker 10-K). On the homepages we read, 18.5% linked to a careers page.
How many optometry practices and optical stores are there?
BLS counted 21,387 private offices of optometrists with employees in 2025, employing an annual average of 155,131 people at average pay of $56,024 across all jobs, front desk included (BLS QCEW). In 2019 there were 20,782 such offices with 140,432 workers (BLS QCEW). Optical goods stores moved the other way: 10,240 private stores in 2025 with 72,654 workers at average pay of $53,140 (BLS QCEW), against 10,753 in 2019 (BLS QCEW). That is 4.8% fewer optical stores and 2.9% more optometry offices (our calculation). Walmart, Costco and Target optical departments are counted with their parent store, not here.
Census County Business Patterns counted 22,501 offices of optometrists with paid employees in 2023, with 147,931 employees (U.S. Census Bureau). 10,781 of them had fewer than five employees (U.S. Census Bureau), 47.9% of the total (our calculation). Florida had 1,541 (U.S. Census Bureau). CBP counted 11,719 optical goods stores (U.S. Census Bureau). Another 10,346 optometry businesses had no paid employees in 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau), down from 12,414 in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau), a 16.7% fall (our calculation); 2,417 optical retailers had no employees (U.S. Census Bureau).
How much do optometry practices take in?
Offices of optometrists with employees had receipts of $20.09 billion in the 2022 Economic Census (U.S. Census Bureau), 29.6% more than the $15.50 billion of 2017, before inflation (U.S. Census Bureau; our calculation). The Census annual survey puts 2024 receipts at $20.78 billion (U.S. Census Bureau), against $17.28 billion in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau). Eyewear is a large part of it: optometry offices sold $7.59 billion of glasses and contact lenses in 2022 (U.S. Census Bureau), 37.8% of all their receipts (our calculation). Optical goods stores sold $15.68 billion the same year (U.S. Census Bureau). Census publishes advertising spending only for the wider group of other health practitioners, which includes optometrists, chiropractors and therapists: $1.55 billion in 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau).
Telehealth is rare in the federal count. 1,607 of 22,762 optometry offices reported any telemedicine revenue in 2022 (U.S. Census Bureau), 7.1% (our calculation).
How far have chains and private equity consolidated eye care?
Optometry is still mostly single offices, but the big firms are growing. 17,302 of 18,582 optometry firms with employees had one location in 2022 (U.S. Census Bureau), 93.1% (our calculation). The four largest firms took 7.8% of receipts in 2022, up from 3.4% in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau), a 2.3-fold rise (our calculation); the 50 largest took 16.4% (U.S. Census Bureau). Optical retail is already concentrated: the four largest firms took 61.5% of optical store sales in 2022, up from 58.6% in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau), and 15 chains with 25 or more stores ran 6,629 of 11,183 stores (U.S. Census Bureau), 59.3% of them (our calculation).
Concentration (Economic Census)
2017
2022
Offices of optometrists: four largest firms' share of receipts
Older filings show the retail chains' reach. Luxottica ran 1,012 LensCrafters stores in North America in March 2017, plus Pearle Vision, Sears Optical and Target Optical (Luxottica 20-F), and called LensCrafters the largest optical retailer in North America by sales (Luxottica 20-F) and EyeMed one of the largest managed vision care networks (Luxottica 20-F). Costco had 662 optical dispensing centers in its 686 warehouses worldwide in fiscal 2015 (Costco 10-K), up from 442 of 458 in 2006 (Costco 10-K). In their 10-Ks for 2025, both chains quote The Vision Council, the optical industry's trade association, for the market's size: $69.5 billion for U.S. optical retail (National Vision 10-K) and $70 billion for U.S. eyewear (Warby Parker 10-K), with about 70% of consumers holding some vision coverage (National Vision 10-K).
Contact lens makers sell through optometrists. Alcon puts the global vision care market at about $23 billion (Alcon 20-F) and its own contact lens sales at $2.8 billion in 2025 (Alcon 20-F); it calls itself the second-largest branded contact lens company (Alcon 20-F). CooperVision's fiscal 2025 sales were $2.74 billion (Cooper Companies 10-K). Cooper says its MiSight lens became, in November 2019, the first FDA-approved product to slow myopia in children (Cooper Companies 10-K), that it is building the myopia-management market by educating eye care practitioners and families (Cooper Companies 10-K), and that it supports practitioners with digital marketing and social media (Cooper Companies 10-K). About 3000 U.S. eye care providers actively fit orthokeratology lenses, according to a 2022 report on a survey of fitters (Optometry and Vision Science).
How many Americans get eye exams and wear glasses or contacts?
About half of adults had a dilated eye exam in the last two years: 52.5 percent in 2023, age-adjusted, in the National Health Interview Survey data tracked for Healthy People 2030 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Among adults with diagnosed diabetes, 66.0 percent had an eye exam in the past 12 months (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), and 58.8 percent of children aged 3 to 5 had a vision screening (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). CDC estimates 93 million U.S. adults are at high risk of serious vision loss, but only half saw an eye doctor in the past year (CDC). The AOA, which represents optometrists, reported in its 2020 Eye-Q survey that 58% of Americans had not had a comprehensive eye exam in the past two years (American Optometric Association); the release gives no sample size.
Vision problems are common and rising. 20.4% of U.S. adults reported some difficulty seeing even with glasses or contacts in 2025 (CDC NCHS), up from 16.4% in 2019 (CDC NCHS), 4.0 percentage points (our calculation); the share was 25.4% among adults 65 and over (CDC NCHS). About 7 million Americans have vision impairment, 1 million of them blindness (CDC), and about 6.8% of children under 18 have a diagnosed eye or vision condition (CDC). Blindness or visual impairment among children reached 44.7 per 1,000 in 2024 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Untreated cataracts left 64.9 per 1,000 adults 65 and over visually impaired in 2023, diabetic retinopathy 48.4 per 1,000 adults with diabetes, and glaucoma 15.4 per 1,000 adults 45 and over (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
Myopia among Americans aged 12 to 54 rose from 25.0% in 1971-1972 to 41.6% in 1999-2004 in NHANES exam data (Archives of Ophthalmology), a 66% relative rise (our calculation). Worldwide, a 2016 meta-analysis projected that 49.8% of people will be myopic by 2050, a modelled global figure, not a U.S. one (Ophthalmology). The National Eye Institute projected U.S. cataract cases would double from 24.4 million in 2010 to about 50 million by 2050 (National Eye Institute), glaucoma would reach 6.3 million (National Eye Institute), age-related macular degeneration 5.44 million (National Eye Institute) and diabetic retinopathy 14.6 million (National Eye Institute).
How many people wear glasses and contacts?
The Vision Council's Q4 2025 survey of 12,129 U.S. adults found more than 80% use some form of vision correction (The Vision Council) and over 60% get eye exams at an independent practice (The Vision Council). The Vision Council is the optical industry's trade association. CDC estimates about 45 million Americans wear contact lenses (CDC), two-thirds of them female (CDC); the figure rests on a 2016 online survey that counted 33.9 million adults 25 and over, 7.5 million aged 18 to 24 and 3.6 million teens (CDC MMWR). In that survey six of seven wearers reported at least one risky lens care habit (CDC MMWR); CDC says 40% to 90% of wearers do not follow care instructions (CDC) and that serious infections affect up to 1 out of every 500 lens users a year (CDC). CDC puts the cost of keratitis at about $175 million a year in direct health care spending, an estimate built on 2010 data (CDC).
Most glasses are still bought in person. In The Vision Council's Q3 2024 survey of 12,014 adults, 14 percent of recent eyewear buyers bought online and 86% in person (The Vision Council), and across 121,288 adults surveyed in 2022-2023, 85 percent of prescription eyeglass purchases were made in person (The Vision Council). Contact lenses move online faster: 40 percent of contact lens purchases were made online in Q3 2024 (The Vision Council) and 39% of lens users bought online in Q1 2025 (The Vision Council). In CDC's 2016 survey, 18.8% of wearers 25 and over bought lenses on the internet and 65.4% at an eye care provider's office (CDC MMWR). The methods differ, so the two are not a trend line. Even online buyers return: in Q4 2025, 52% of past online eyewear buyers made their latest purchase in person (The Vision Council). 28% of eyeglass buyers spent $200 or more in Q1 2025 (The Vision Council), and in Q3 2024 69 percent of respondents paid less than $50 out of pocket for their latest eye exam (The Vision Council).
The FTC, citing The Vision Council, says online sales of frames and lenses rose from $1.82 billion in 2019 to $3.24 billion in 2022 (Federal Register), and that the average price of frames and lenses in 2022 was $360 at independent optical retailers, against $183 online (Federal Register). Warby Parker, which began online, now earns most of its money in stores: e-commerce brought in $240.9 million of $871.9 million in 2025 (Warby Parker 10-K), 27.6% of revenue, down from 60.3% in 2020 when e-commerce made $237.4 million (Warby Parker 10-K; our calculation). The company says consumers have been slower to buy glasses and contacts online than other goods (Warby Parker 10-K). In 2006, 1-800 Contacts said Internet sales were more than half its revenue (1-800 Contacts 10-K), on net sales of $248.7 million (1-800 Contacts 10-K). National Vision expects more competition from online vision exams and online contact lens sales (National Vision 10-K).
What do Medicare and vision plans cover?
Original Medicare does not cover routine eye exams for glasses or contacts: Not covered (Medicare.gov). Part B covers one pair of eyeglasses with standard frames after cataract surgery with an intraocular lens (Medicare.gov), a yearly diabetic retinopathy exam at 20% coinsurance (Medicare.gov) and glaucoma screening once every 12 months for people at high risk (Medicare.gov). In 2026, 99% of individual Medicare Advantage plans offer some vision benefit (KFF), and Medicare Advantage enrolled 54% of eligible beneficiaries in 2025 (KFF).
Screens bring patients in too. In The Vision Council's 2026 survey of 1,089 adults, 78% felt eye fatigue after screen use at least once in the past three months (The Vision Council), and 39% of those with dry eye or eye strain symptoms had never raised them with a health care professional (The Vision Council). An AOA-commissioned survey in September and October 2020 found 57% of Americans do not see a doctor unless they have a specific concern (American Optometric Association), and in its Eye-Q survey more than a quarter said exams are hard to get to and 61% of millennials would take a rideshare to one (American Optometric Association).
How do optical chains use video?
For advertising and for the exam itself. National Vision says video is a key channel for reaching customers and that much of its America's Best and Eyeglass World advertising runs as video (National Vision 10-K). It spent $138.8 million on advertising in fiscal 2025 (National Vision 10-K), against $86.5 million (2020) in 2020 and $149.6 million in 2021 (National Vision 10-K). Its remote eye exams, in which an optometrist examines an in-store patient over two-way video conferencing (National Vision 10-K), ran in over 800 America's Best stores at the end of fiscal 2025 (National Vision 10-K), up from over 730 a year earlier (National Vision 10-K) and approximately 300 at the end of 2022 (National Vision 10-K): at least 75.7% of the chain's America's Best stores (our calculation).
Warby Parker's advertising cost about $113.9 million in 2025 (Warby Parker 10-K), 13.1% of revenue (our calculation). It calls its Virtual Try-On "the first true to scale" and runs a Virtual Vision Test telehealth app (Warby Parker 10-K), and it launched an AI recommendation tool in 2025 (Warby Parker 10-K). Virtual try-on is still rare in annual reports: EDGAR full-text search finds the phrase in 1 Form 10-K filed in 2018 (SEC EDGAR), 8 in 2022 (SEC EDGAR) and 5 in 2025 (SEC EDGAR), most of them beauty, jewelry and apparel companies. In our homepage sample only 3.8% of practices and shops offered a virtual try-on. In fiscal 2006, 1-800 Contacts cut advertising to $13.6 million, 5.5% of sales (1-800 Contacts 10-K).
What do eye-care videos on YouTube and TikTok contain?
Studies of the most-watched videos keep finding the same pattern: eye-care professionals make a minority of them, their videos score higher on quality scales, and the less reliable videos get as many views or more. None of the studies below measured what a video does for a practice's bookings.
Only 8.8% video; optometrists wrote 20.1%; education the least engaging (rate 0.059)
In a 2024 study of TikTok, myopia videos from health professionals scored higher on quality but were less popular, and videos over 60s did worse (BMC Public Health). Most of these studies searched from Turkey, the U.S., China or Australia; the country and search date are in the evidence table.
Does patient-education video work in eye care?
For knowledge and anxiety, often; for behavior, less clearly. In a U.S. trial of 91 cataract patients published in 2019, those who watched a four-minute video scored 11.2 of 12 on a knowledge quiz against 8.4 (Graefe's Archive) and had lower anxiety on the day of surgery, 26.4 against 41.1 on the STAI scale (Graefe's Archive). A non-randomised 2019 study in Leeds, UK, of 200 cataract patients reported anxiety of 45.5 mm without a video and 11.2 mm with one (Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery). A 2025 meta-analysis of 22 studies found non-drug measures including video reduced anxiety before cataract surgery (Nursing Open). In a 2018 Swiss trial, adding a video to laser eye surgery consent saved 4.96 minutes of consultation with no change in knowledge or anxiety (Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery).
In a U.S. trial of ninety-two glaucoma patients published in 2018, a four-minute eye drop technique video improved technique by 0.73 of five steps right away (Patient Education and Counseling); in a 2019 follow-up, all 43 patients interviewed would recommend it (Optometry and Vision Science), rating it 3.4 of 4 (Optometry and Vision Science). A 2025 report on a trial of 189 Black glaucoma patients tested a pre-visit video and question list (Optometry and Vision Science); patients in that arm who asked questions took the right doses 35% of the time against 16% for those who asked none (Optometry and Vision Science). A 2024 South Korean trial randomised Sixty-two patients to a video alone or video plus feedback on their own technique (International Ophthalmology).
How accurate are remote exams and glasses bought online?
A web-based home refraction test put 67% of nearsighted users within ±0.5 D of their usual prescription in 2021-2022 data; the authors work for or advise its maker (npj Digital Medicine). A web-based home acuity test agreed with the hospital chart within 0.15 logMAR in 77% of results (JMIR Formative Research). Lenses ordered from three U.S. online sellers failed optical standards at rates of 11.2%, 8.0% and 8.2% (Optometry and Vision Science), and in a 30-person Canadian comparison glasses ordered with a phone head scan scored 7.23 of 10 for fit against 8.71 from a storefront clinic (Optometry and Vision Science). A 2022 review found only Eight of 27 studies in which optometrists delivered primary eye care by telehealth on their own (Telemedicine and e-Health); in Trinidad and Tobago 76.4% of optometrists had never provided it (Heliyon). In South Africa 92% of 108 optometrists prescribed blue-light filtering lenses (Optometry and Vision Science).
What do the FTC Eyeglass and Contact Lens Rules require?
Since September 24, 2024, the FTC's amended Eyeglass Rule (16 CFR part 456) requires a prescriber who sells eyewear to give the patient a copy of the prescription after the exam and get a signed confirmation (Federal Register). The confirmation, or proof of digital delivery, must be kept for three years (eCFR); digital delivery needs the patient's consent, also kept three years (eCFR). The rule offers optional wording: "My eye care professional provided me with a copy of my prescription at the completion of my examination" (eCFR). The Commission voted 5-0 (FTC, archived) after 27 comments on the 2023 proposal (Federal Register), 47 counting the workshop (Federal Register).
The FTC's record explains why. A SurveyMonkey poll it cites found 47% of recent buyers who saw an optometrist did not automatically get their prescription (Federal Register); a poll for 1-800 CONTACTS put it at 39% who never got one (Federal Register). An FTC study from the 1980s found only about one-third of prescribers complied (Federal Register). The FTC estimated the confirmation requirement costs $38.4 million a year, about $629 per prescriber (Federal Register), across roughly 61,000 optometrists and ophthalmologists (Federal Register), $149.7 million in total labor cost for the whole rule (Federal Register) and 3,208,333 hours of paperwork (Federal Register). It assumes about 82.5 million eyeglass prescriptions a year (Federal Register), so the confirmation costs about 47 cents per prescription (our calculation).
The Contact Lens Rule (16 CFR part 315) was amended effective October 16, 2020 (Federal Register) on a record of more than 8,000 comments (Federal Register), including approximately 660 in 2015 (Federal Register) and approximately 900 in 2019 (Federal Register). A 2019 survey cited by the FTC found nearly 49% of contact lens patients were not automatically given their prescription (Federal Register); applied to the 45 million wearers the FTC counts (Federal Register), that suggested about 22 million violations a year (Federal Register). A seller's verification request counts as verified if the prescriber does not answer within eight (8) business hours (eCFR); a prescriber must send a copy to the patient's agent within forty (40) business hours (eCFR); prescriptions last at least one year (eCFR); and signed confirmations are kept three years (eCFR).
How does the FTC enforce them?
Mostly by letter. FTC staff sent 38 warning letters to eyeglass prescribers in May 2016 (FTC, archived), 28 in December 2020, citing penalties of up to $42,530 per violation (FTC, archived), and 37 cease-and-desist letters in April 2023 citing up to $50,120 (FTC, archived): 103 letters in three batches (our calculation). The AOA told the FTC that fewer than fifty prescribers had been warned (Federal Register). For contact lenses, staff warned 45 prescribers and 10 sellers in 2016 (FTC, archived) and seven retailers selling cosmetic lenses without a prescription in 2019 (FTC, archived). Online seller Hubble Contacts agreed in 2022 to pay $1.5 million in civil penalties and $2 million in redress (U.S. Department of Justice, archived), partly over what it portrayed as independent consumer reviews (U.S. Department of Justice, archived). The FTC's case against 1-800 Contacts' thirteen keyword-bidding agreements with rivals (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) was vacated on appeal in 2021 (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit).
What rules apply to optometry testimonials, reviews and ads?
The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials took effect October 21, 2024 (Federal Register), and since January 17, 2025 a knowing violation of an FTC trade regulation rule can cost up to $53,088 per violation (eCFR). FTC staff warned 10 companies about the reviews rule in December 2025 (FTC, archived). Under the Endorsement Guides, a testimonial with untypical results must disclose the generally expected performance (eCFR); the FTC took 108 comments when it revised them (Federal Register). HIPAA requires a patient's written authorization before a practice uses their health information in marketing such as a testimonial video (eCFR); a Dallas dental practice paid HHS $10,000 in 2019 for revealing patient information in replies to Yelp reviews (HHS, archived). In Florida, misleading advertising is a ground for discipline under s. 463.016(1)(f) (Florida Legislature).
Contact lenses, online eye tests and state law
Public Law 109-96 made every contact lens, decorative ones included, a medical device in 2005 (U.S. Government Publishing Office), and the FDA says colored and Halloween lenses are medical devices that need a prescription (FDA). The FDA warned Opternative on October 30, 2017 that its online eye exam needed premarket review (FDA), as it had told the company on June 15, 2016 (FDA), and cleared Visibly's online acuity test, not a prescription test, on August 12, 2022 (FDA). South Carolina requires glasses and contact lens prescriptions to expire after one year (South Carolina Legislature) and bars prescriptions made by a kiosk, which includes apps (South Carolina Legislature), since May 19, 2016 (South Carolina Legislature). In Florida a glasses prescription can be filled for 5 years (Florida Legislature) and a daily-wear soft contact lens prescription for 2 years (Florida Legislature).
What the popular optometry numbers really say
Optometry marketing agencies, vendors and eye-health pages repeat a handful of numbers. We traced each to the organization that produced it. Pages that repeat a claim are linked only as dated evidence of how it spread, never as a source for the number.
"77% of patients start with a search engine"
It comes from a 2012 hospital study, not optometry. An optometry marketing agency tells practices that 77% of patients begin with a search engine, citing nothing (iMatrix). The figure matches Google's 2012 study with Compete, in which 77% of people who had researched hospitals said they used search engines (Google/Compete). That study surveyed 533 online hospital researchers in May and June 2012 (Google/Compete), so everyone in it had already gone online, and its own headline was that 84% used both online and offline sources (Google/Compete). We found no primary source measuring how patients choose an optometrist online.
Use instead: The Vision Council's Q4 2025 survey, in which over 60% of adults said they get eye exams at an independent practice, and our homepage count: 73.6% of practice sites let visitors book or request an appointment online.
"An eye exam can detect 270 diseases"
It is a count of conditions that can show signs in the eye, not a detection rate. AARP attributes "more than 270" to the AOA (AARP), and the AOA's own page says optometrists can spot warning signs of more than 270 systemic and chronic diseases (American Optometric Association; also in its fact sheet, 270, @MYT-007|AOA via Oregon Optometric Physicians Association). The oldest dated form we found is the AOA page of 2020, which VSP Vision Care, a vision insurer, footnotes in a flyer: 270 (VSP Vision Care). The only list behind it is VSP's interactive page, where 123 of the conditions are rare genetic or hereditary disorders and the category counts add to 269 (VSP Vision Care). Repeats drift to "nearly 270" (University of Waterloo) and "over 270 different diseases" (AOA Focus). No study measures how many of these an exam actually finds.
Use instead: describe the exam's measured role, for example the 66.0 percent of adults with diabetes who had an eye exam in the past year.
"80% of learning is visual"
No study is behind it. Prevent Blindness Iowa says nearly 80% of a child's learning in the first twelve years is through vision (Prevent Blindness Iowa), and the AOA says "as much as 80%" (American Optometric Association). The earliest dated appearance we found is Presidential Proclamation 7652 for Save Your Vision Week in March 2003, which credits the AOA with "80 percent" and names no study (Federal Register). We ran exact-phrase searches of the figure and its older wordings, the Wayback captures of the AOA site, trade press and government documents; none led to a measurement. There is no measured figure to use in its place.
"1 in 4 children has an undiagnosed vision problem"
Not found as a measurement. The AOA's president said one in four children has an undiagnosed vision problem in 2016 (American Optometric Association), an AOA Focus article says 1 in every 4 children has a disorder needing treatment (AOA Focus), and Prevent Blindness Iowa says one in four school-age children has a vision problem (Prevent Blindness Iowa). The AOA's 2009 Eye-Q survey did not measure it: it found 88 percent of respondents did not know the claim (Eyecare Business; also HealthDay, 88 percent, @MYT-020|HealthDay). A 2009 VSP and Prevent Blindness survey found one in four children aged 6 to 11 wears prescription glasses, a different measure that may be the source of the mix-up (Eyecare Business).
Use instead: the CLEERE study, which measured 2523 U.S. schoolchildren (Archives of Ophthalmology): 9.2% were myopic, 12.8% hyperopic and 28.4% astigmatic (Archives of Ophthalmology), or CDC's 6.8% of children with a diagnosed eye condition.
"75% of adults use vision correction; 64% glasses, 11% contacts"
The 75% was real VisionWatch data; the 11% does not match it. Pages still say about 75% of adults use correction, 64% glasses and 11% contacts (All About Vision), or 75% (Lens.com, a contact lens retailer). The Vision Council's VisionWatch table for June 2015, in a copy hosted by a Canadian optical site, shows 75.7% of U.S. adults using correction (The Vision Council VisionWatch), from samples of 110,000 U.S. adults (The Vision Council VisionWatch); it shows 64.2% in glasses but 16.0% in contacts, not 11% (The Vision Council VisionWatch). The table has no column labels, so the U.S. column is read from the title order. VisionWatch later counted 196.8 million adults using correction in the year to March 2021 (Eyecare Business).
Use instead: the current survey: 83% in Q2 2024 among 12,058 adults (Eyecare Business) and more than 80% in Q4 2025 (INVISION), from 12,129 adults (INVISION), a broader definition that counts reading glasses.
"Virtual try-on raises conversions 94%"
It is a Shopify figure about 3D product content in general, not eyewear. A virtual try-on vendor tells eyewear retailers that Shopify reported a 94% conversion lift (Fittingbox), and a 3D vendor restates it as a 94 percent higher conversion rate (UFO3D). The original is a one-line Shopify changelog post of May 11, 2022: merchants adding 3D content see a 94% lift on average (Shopify), with no method, sample or category. The eyewear figures are vendor case studies comparing shoppers who used try-on with those who did not, which mixes the feature with shopper intent: 4x conversion at Japan's Zoff (Auglio) and 174% higher revenue per visit at MOSCOT (Retail TouchPoints, archived). No independent study measures what try-on or video does for frame sales.
"Half the world will be myopic by 2050"
It is a global model, and the original said "could". Holden and colleagues projected 4.758 billion people with myopia in 2050, 49.8% of the world (Ophthalmology), and 938 million with high myopia (Ophthalmology), up from 1406 million in 2000 (Ophthalmology), pooling 145 studies (Ophthalmology). The UK Association of Optometrists reported that Half the world "could" be myopic (Association of Optometrists); the university's own release said Half "will be" (UNSW Sydney); Alcon's 20-F says nearly 5 billion (Alcon 20-F). The same study appears above as 49.8%. It is not a U.S. figure.
Use instead: for the U.S., the NHANES exam data: 41.6% of people aged 12 to 54 were myopic in 1999-2004.
"45 million Americans wear contact lenses"
It is a 2016 survey estimate still quoted as current. Vision Monday repeated about 45 million in September 2026 (Vision Monday), as did the AOA in 2019, 45 million (American Optometric Association). The source is CDC's 2017 report, 45 million (CDC MMWR), which added 33.9 million adults 25 and over to 7.5 million young adults and 3.6 million teens (CDC MMWR) from an online panel of 4,548 adults and 1,618 teens (CDC MMWR). CDC's earlier estimate was 40.9 million adults (CDC MMWR), and CDC notes that an NHANES-based study with a stricter definition found only 18.6 million wearers aged 12 and over (CDC MMWR). It has not been re-measured since.
We started from the questions people search for about optometry video statistics and looked for the organization that actually produced each answer. Every figure on this page sits in an evidence ledger with its source, the exact table or paragraph it came from, the measurement period, the population measured, and the date we checked it. This edition holds 384 figures from 72 publishers.
On November 1, 2026, each sourced figure on this page was re-fetched with the fetch cache cleared and matched against the recorded wording: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (through the BLS data API), Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages open data and the Occupational Outlook Handbook (through Internet Archive copies, because bls.gov refuses automated requests); Census County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, the 2017 and 2022 Economic Census and the Annual Integrated Economic Survey (through the Census data API); the 10-K and 20-F filings of National Vision, Warby Parker, 1-800 Contacts, Cooper Companies, Alcon, Costco and Luxottica and EDGAR full-text search on SEC EDGAR; the FTC Eyeglass, Contact Lens, Endorsement and Consumer Review rules in the eCFR and Federal Register, FTC and Justice Department releases (through Internet Archive copies), the Second Circuit, FDA, HHS and Florida and South Carolina statutes; CDC, NCHS, Healthy People 2030, the National Eye Institute, Medicare.gov and KFF; The Vision Council's and the AOA's public releases; peer-reviewed studies through PubMed; and the pages behind each popular claim. The homepage figures are our own measurement on the same day, described in the first section. We left out Florida Board of Optometry advertising rules published only as Word files, a count of states restricting online eye exams with no readable primary source, National Vision's exam count (its filing gives none) and The Vision Council's paid reports.
We only cite the producer: government agencies, regulators, company filings and official posts, and the survey owner's own report. We do not cite statistics roundups, Statista-style aggregators, or salary sites without a public method. We did not bypass paywalls or sign-up forms; where a full report was gated, we used only the figures its publisher states publicly.
Figures marked "our calculation" are arithmetic on the cited numbers, and anyone can reproduce them:
3290 Overpass elements -> 3288 with a usable URL -> minus 15 on directory/social hosts {'facebook.com': 11, 'eyeglasses.com': 1, 'optometrists.org': 1, 'yelp.com': 1, 'instagram.com': 1} -> one row per registrable host = 1983
69 / 341 readable homepages with video_player = true in homepages.csv; rule: video player: a <video> element or player iframe/placeholder (YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Vidyard, Brightcove, Loom, Facebook video ...) at least 150x80 px, or a labelled click-to-play control or hidden player embed
46 / 341 readable homepages with video_self_hosted = true in homepages.csv; rule: video player that is a native <video> element (file served by the site or its site builder/CDN, incl. background videos)
27 / 341 readable homepages with video_embedded = true in homepages.csv; rule: video player from a third-party host (YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Facebook, TikTok ...)
21 / 341 readable homepages with youtube_player = true in homepages.csv; rule: a YouTube player (iframe, lite-youtube placeholder, lightbox embed link or hidden embed)
42 / 341 readable homepages with youtube_channel_link = true in homepages.csv; rule: link to a YouTube channel or handle (not a single video; template placeholders excluded)
251 / 341 readable homepages with online_booking_or_request = true in homepages.csv; rule: online booking or appointment request: a link/button labelled book/schedule (online, now, today, [a/your] [word] appointment/exam/visit/consultation), request an appointment, appointment request, make an appointment or online scheduling/booking (not "call to schedule", not tel:/mailto: links even when labelled "Appointment Request"), an appointment URL path, or a third-party scheduling tool
112 / 341 readable homepages with online_booking_tool = true in homepages.csv; rule: third-party scheduling tool: a link, button or iframe to a scheduling vendor (Weave, Solutionreach/Smile Reminder, 4PatientCare, Eyefinity/OfficeMate, RevolutionEHR (revintake), Compulink, MaximEyes, OpticalPOS/EyeCloudPro, Zocdoc, NexHealth, Demandforce, Luma Health, Calendly, Acuity, IntakeQ ...; practice-software hosts only on a scheduling/booking/appointment URL), a widget request to a scheduling subdomain, or a booking-labelled link to any other third-party host
130 / 341 readable homepages with online_store = true in homepages.csv; rule: online store or contact-lens ordering: a link labelled shop/store/shop online/order contacts/buy contacts/cart, a link to a practice web store or contact-lens ordering service (YourLens, Eyeconic, myeyestore, Arrellio, WeWillShip, HelloAbby, Marlo, Dr. Contact Lens, a shop. subdomain ...), or page text such as "shop online", "online store", "order contacts online", "add to cart" (bare Eyeglasses/Sunglasses/Contacts menu items and "coming soon" excluded)
13 / 341 readable homepages with virtual_tryon = true in homepages.csv; rule: virtual try-on: page text "virtual try-on", "virtually try on", "try on at home/online", or a link or widget request for a try-on tool (FittingBox, Ditto ...)
38 / 341 readable homepages with frame_brands_named = true in homepages.csv; rule: at least one eyewear frame or sunglass brand named in the page text (Ray-Ban, Oakley, Maui Jim, Tom Ford, Gucci, Prada, Kate Spade, Lindberg, Silhouette, Costa Del Mar ... list of about 100 brands, case-sensitive; the site's own brand excluded)
87 / 341 readable homepages with myopia_control = true in homepages.csv; rule: myopia control mentioned: myopia control/management/treatment, ortho-k, orthokeratology, corneal reshaping/CRT lenses, MiSight, Stellest or low-dose atropine in the page text, or a link labelled so
161 / 341 readable homepages with dry_eye = true in homepages.csv; rule: dry eye mentioned: dry eye(s), LipiFlow, iLux, TearCare, meibomian gland or intense pulsed light in the page text, or a dry-eye link
204 / 341 readable homepages with testimonials_reviews = true in homepages.csv; rule: testimonials or reviews shown: page text with testimonials, patient reviews/stories, "what our patients say", Google reviews, star ratings or review counts; a link labelled testimonials/reviews or to a /testimonials or /reviews path; or a review-widget request (Birdeye, Podium, Elfsight, Trustindex ...)
107 / 341 readable homepages with insurance_mention = true in homepages.csv; rule: insurance named in the page text: VSP, EyeMed, Davis Vision, Spectera, Medicare, Medicaid, Superior Vision, Avesis, a named health insurer, vision insurance/plans/benefits, in-/out-of-network, FSA/HSA, or "we accept/take (most) insurance"
63 / 341 readable homepages with careers_link = true in homepages.csv; rule: link labelled careers, jobs, join our team, now hiring, employment, open positions or work with us, or a link to a /careers, /jobs, /employment or /join-our-team path
5 / 341 readable homepages with telehealth = true in homepages.csv; rule: telehealth, telemedicine, virtual eye exam/visit, online vision test or prescription renewal, video visit or remote eye exam mentioned in the page text or a link labelled so (negated mentions excluded)
18 / 341 readable homepages with corporate_chain = true in homepages.csv; rule: chain or private-equity affiliation shown: the host is an optical retail chain, PE-backed platform or franchise (LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ban, Oakley, MyEyeDr., America's Best, Eyeglass World, Visionworks, Warby Parker, Walmart, Costco, For Eyes, Sterling Optical, Eyemart Express, Clarkson/EyeCare Partners ...), or the page names one with an ownership cue (copyright, now part of, member/affiliate of, owned/operated by, franchise) and no comparison/biography cue, or a careers link to a chain/PE job board, or "member/part of the X family/network" naming an eye-care group (Vision Source, IDOC and other alliances of independent owners do not count)
This edition contains no Mark Studios customer data.
Limitations
Our homepage sample comes from a volunteer map. OpenStreetMap covers practices and shops someone mapped with a website, so the shares describe that sample, not every U.S. practice; one chain website counts once however many stores it serves, and only 8 chain homepages were readable.
Federal counts split eye care in two. Census and BLS count offices of optometrists and optical goods stores separately, and optical departments inside Walmart, Costco and Target are counted with their parent stores; Census publishes advertising spending only for all other health practitioners together.
Nobody measures what marketing video does for a practice. The video studies here measure content quality, knowledge, anxiety and eye drop technique, not new patients, exams booked or frames sold.
Several figures come from parties with an interest. The Vision Council is the optical industry's trade association, the AOA represents optometrists, and National Vision, Warby Parker, Alcon, CooperVision, VSP and the virtual try-on vendors sell to patients or practices; each is named beside its figure.
Many studies are small or from outside the U.S. Video studies searched from Turkey, China, Australia and elsewhere, and trials from Korea, Switzerland, the UK and China, are labelled with their country; some disease projections date from 2010.
How to cite this page
For a single figure, cite the original publisher named next to it, and link here if the verification trail is useful to your readers. Each figure has its own anchor, so you can link straight to it, for example https://www.markstudios.com/research/optometry-video-statistics#WRK-044. To cite the page as a whole:
Mark Studios. "Optometry Video Statistics." Last verified Nov 1, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/optometry-video-statistics
APA
Mark Studios. (2026, November 1). Optometry video statistics. https://www.markstudios.com/research/optometry-video-statistics
MLA
“Optometry Video Statistics.” Mark Studios, 1 Nov. 2026, www.markstudios.com/research/optometry-video-statistics.
Chicago
Mark Studios. “Optometry Video Statistics.” Last modified November 1, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/optometry-video-statistics.
BibTeX
@misc{markstudios_optometry_video_statistics_2026,
author = {{Mark Studios}},
title = {{Optometry Video Statistics}},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://www.markstudios.com/research/optometry-video-statistics},
note = {Last verified 2026-11-01}
}
Our calculations and the evidence table are free to reuse with attribution and a link to this page. Each underlying figure remains the claim of its original publisher, and some publishers ask for a link when their figures are reused.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (Healthy People 2030; data CDC/NCHS NHIS), Reduce visual impairment due to glaucoma — V-05 (undated). Accessed 2026-11-01.
We re-verify every figure quarterly and when a major source publishes a new edition. The next scheduled review is February 2027. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.
Nov 1, 2026: First published with 384 figures from 72 publishers, each checked against its original source.
Frequently asked questions
How many optometry websites have video?
In our November 1, 2026 read of 341 U.S. optometry practice and optical shop homepages drawn at random from OpenStreetMap, 20.2% showed a video player. 11.7% of homepages played a muted background loop and 6.2% embedded a YouTube player.
How many optometrists are there in the U.S.?
BLS counted 42,790 wage and salary optometrist jobs in May 2025, at a median annual wage of $136,570, and about 45,100 jobs counting the self-employed. It projects 10% growth from 2025 to 2035.
How many optometry practices are there?
BLS counted 21,387 private offices of optometrists with employees in 2025, and Census counted another 10,346 optometry businesses with no employees in 2024. 93.1% of optometry firms with employees had a single location in 2022.
How many people buy glasses online?
Few. In The Vision Council's Q3 2024 survey of 12,014 U.S. adults, 14 percent of recent eyewear buyers bought online. Contact lenses differ: 40 percent of contact lens purchases were made online that quarter.
Can an eye exam detect 270 diseases?
The "more than 270" figure comes from the American Optometric Association and a vision insurer's list of conditions that can show signs in the eye, 123 of them genetic or hereditary disorders. It is a list, not a measured detection rate.
What does the FTC Eyeglass Rule require?
Since September 24, 2024, a prescriber who sells eyewear must give the patient a copy of the prescription after the exam and keep a signed confirmation for three years. The FTC estimated the confirmation costs $38.4 million a year in total, about $629 per prescriber.
Can an optometry practice post patient testimonial videos?
Yes, with the patient's written HIPAA authorization and truthful claims. The FTC's reviews rule took effect October 21, 2024, and a knowing violation can cost up to $53,088 per violation.
Does patient-education video help eye patients?
For knowledge and anxiety, often. In a U.S. trial of 91 cataract patients, those who saw a four-minute video scored 11.2 of 12 on a knowledge quiz against 8.4. In rural China a video raised knowledge but not exam uptake: 73.0% against 72.9%.
