The History Of Contact Lenses

The notion of the contact lens has been around for centuries In
fact, the original idea of the contact lens is associated with
Leonardo de Vinci Though the history of the contact lens starts
with de Vinci, it would be some time before lenses as we know
them were developed The first actual contact lens, in fact, was
a sclera lens that was made of glass and covered the entire eye
However, in the 1940s a contact lens was developed that simply
covered the cornea making insertion and removal significantly
easier By the 1950s soft lenses made their way onto the
marketplace and the history of the contact lens began to change
at a rapid pace In the next thirty years, soft lenses would
catch on with the American population and rigid gas permeable
lenses would be introduced
All of a sudden the contact lens industry began to explode and
by the 19080s and 1990s the world was ready for whatever the
contact lens companies could manufacture and develop The
introduction of extended wear lenses made up for a large
percentage of new contact lens wearers during the 1980s then,
in the 1990s disposables were introduced and wearing contact
lenses got a lot easier and a lot cheaper Include the
development of colored contact lenses as well as lenses for
astigmatism, bifocals, toric, and the like and you have the
amazing history of the contact lens However, it is not over yet
because new technology and new inventions are being introduced
regularly

Tags | 1940s, astigmatism, colored, cornea, industry, lenses, leonardo, rigid, wearers