The first multifocal soft contact lens became available within the same year. The history of contact lenses is long, fascinating and full of incredible breakthroughs. Message us on Twitter feelgoodcontact and tell us what surprised you most about the history of contact lenses.
Eye Care Hub. The history of contact lenses. Contact Lens Care. Which contact lens solution do I need? How to clean a contact lens case? How can I tell if my contact lens is inside out? How do toric contact lenses work? What does the water content of a contact lens mean? What are the best contact lenses for dry eyes? How dehydration impacts your eyes? Computer eye strain: Symptoms and solutions. Improvements in the design of contact lenses would not be seen again for nearly two centuries.
Young for gluing glass to his eyes—he was also the first to accurately describe astigmatism , greatly advancing the field of eye care. English physicist Sir John Herschel was the first to hypothesize that taking a mold of the cornea might produce lenses that could correct vision. However, without the necessary technology, Herschel was unable to test his hypothesis, and his theory remained mere speculation until nearly years later.
The early s were a revolutionary period for contact lenses. New glass production, cutting, and shaping technologies made thin lenses possible for the first time. Designs for glass contact lenses that fit in the eye, allowing the wearer to blink, were independently invented by three men: Dr. Credit for the discovery usually goes to Dr.
The first physical example of the lens was made by artificial eye-maker F. Mueller in These types of contact lenses were called scleral lenses, and they covered the entire eye, not just the cornea. However, Descartes deserves credit for being the first to suggest placing the lens directly on the cornea, rather than the full sclera the white of the eye. Young attached these water-filled lenses to his own eyes using wax and wrote of the results. This helped to prove the original principles set out by both da Vinci and Descartes, paving the way for more practical designs.
English astronomer Sir John Herschel was able to contribute further to practical contact lens design, with his suggestions for lens grinding and fitting. In , Herschel proposed the idea of grinding a glass contact lens to fit the surface of a cornea as closely as possible. Herschel suggested the use of a physical mold of the eye, to allow producers to create lenses that fit each individual wearer accurately. To help prevent the lens from damaging the eye, Herschel also suggested using a gel filling that would sit between the cornea and lens.
As the 19th century progressed, creating contact lenses for the general public became increasingly feasible. In , German artificial glass eye makers F. Muller created a transparent contact lens. Further advances in lens creation meant that by the start of the 20th century contact lenses were starting to prove their value for vision correction. The technology was by no means ready for widespread use though, and the lenses were only occasionally used for specific medical purposes.
Small glass lenses struggled to properly attach to the eye, while larger lenses greatly interfered with the natural lubrication. Expanding the ranks of contact lens wearers. As new, more comfortable materials become available, savvy practitioners find they expand the ranks of successful contact lens wearers at both ends of the age spectrum. Tocker says, for example, that he's more comfortable prescribing silicone hydrogel lenses for pre-teen patients because of the lenses' high oxygen transmission.
And for older patients who havebeen tempted to give up on contact lenses because of discomfort, the smoothness and wettability of newer lenses such as Acuvue Oasys have been key, especially when patients are dealing with a dry environment, computer use or systemic medications.
Acuvue Oasys allows more people to stay in the contact lens category," says Dr. Tocker, who prefers to start with the latest lens technology rather than saving it for problem cases. Bringing astigmatism into the mainstream. Market data indicate that practitioners have often chosen to mask patients' astigmatism rather than correct it. Of patients with astigmatic spectacle prescriptions who wear contact lenses, fewer than half currently wear an astigmatic lens.
Tocker says this is probably because first-generation toric lenses didn't fully satisfy patients' visual, comfort or ocular health needs. But he believes the Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism, SofLens 66 Toric and other new torics are completely changing how clinicians approach astigmatism because they're easier to fit and made from healthier materials.
Fitting daily disposables. The third area where he sees opportunity is in the single-use category. Single-use lenses that employ the latest in lens comfort technology are ideal, according to Dr. Tocker, for people who have allergies or solution sensitivities, kids whose parents want them to have the easiest possible care regimen and for sports enthusiasts or other occasional-use wearers. A key challenge for Acuvue — and indeed, for the entire optometric and ophthalmic communities — will be meeting the needs of presbyopes in the years ahead.
Whether they're wearing spectacles or contact lenses, seeking refractive surgery or undergoing cataract surgery, aging baby boomers and the generations to follow them have high expectations of their vision and of their eyecare providers. Boucher predicts a growing demand for better presbyopic solutions. He said he is still waiting for multifocal contact lenses that can offer the same quality of vision that patients achieve with bifocal spectacles.
But thanks to the increased oxygen permeability and comfort of disposable soft contact lenses over the years, Dr. Boucher says he thinks contact lenses will always hold their own against refractive surgery. At the other end of the age spectrum, as Dr. Tocker notes, practitioners are considering contact lenses for younger and younger patients, now that healthier silicone hydrogel materials are available.
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