The Development of the Contact Lens

The development of the contact lens dates back many centuries with inventors such as Leonardo Da Vinci exploring his ideas for contact lenses as far back as1508. Rene Descarte and Thomas Young tried to develop the first corneal contact lens in the17th century and 19th century, respectively.

Early Development

• In the 1820s, English scientist Sir John Herschel began discussing the idea of grinding glass to fit the shape of the eye to correct vision problems. A.E. Fick of Zurich, Switzerland developed this idea by creating molds for lenses in the eyes of rabbits, human cadavers and finally himself in 1888.

Plastic and Glass

• Fick's all-glass lens was so uncomfortable he could only wear them for two hours; at this point contact lens development slowed down. Finally, in 1936 a New York optometrist William Feinbloom created a contact lens with a glass center that covered the cornea and a plastic outer ring covering the sclera.

Plastic

• A smaller completely plastic contact lens was developed by California optician Kevin Tuohy in 1948 that covered the entire cornea. These lenses were developed throughout the 1950s and 60s to become the hard contact lenses available in stores today.

Soft Plastic

• A soft water-absorbing plastic hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) first created in 1945 was developed by Czech chemist Otto Wichterle into soft water-absorbing contact lenses.

Bausch & Lomb

• Otto Wichterle's work was developed by contact lens manufacturer Bausch & Lomb into the world's first commercially available soft contact lenses in 1971.

Disposable Lenses

• Extended-wear lenses were introduced in 1981, and disposable soft contact lenses became commercially available in 1987.