The arrival of a new generation of intraocular lenses and corneal inlays – designed to offer clearer, improved vision without the need for reading glasses – is expected to spur growth in the presbyopia market.

At this year's meeting of the Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, market leaders made headlines with news of joint ventures in refractive surgery, new product launches and re-launches, and other glimpses into the future of vision correction technology.

At this year's American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery symposium, enthusiasm over technological advances in nearly every product segment, including presbyopia-correcting IOLs and cataract surgeries, was dampened by the reality of the softening demand for laser vision correction.

The buzz at this year's annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology focused on two things: the presbyopia-correcting intraocular lens market, and the controversy surrounding the drugs Lucentis and Avastin for treating wet age-related macular degeneration.