Contact Lens History - Over 500 Years Of Innovation And DevelopmentMany people with myopic vision enjoy the use of contact lenses. This is an option for those prescribed to wear eyeglasses for vision correction. When were contact lenses invented? The contact lens was first incepted in 1508 by Leonardo Da Vinci. Oddly enough, he was not trying to correct vision, but was fascinated with magnification properties. Mainly with keeping focus as an object moves further away. Over a hundred years later, in 1636, Rene Descartes had the idea of placing a liquid filled cylinder in contact with the cornea. This was intended to correct as the end opposite the eye was formed of clear glass and shaped to refract light differently. This was not a practical solution due to the fact that it made blinking impossible. Another 175 years passed until 1801 when Thomas Young filled an "eyecup" with fluid and placed an eyepiece from a microscope on the base end. This was done during experimentation in focusing, but the invention was not designed to refract light. The first real idea for contact lenses came in 1845. In a publication called Encyclopedia Metropolitana, Sir John Herschel voiced an idea for "a spherical capsule of glass filled with animal jelly", "a mould of the cornea", fitted onto "some sort of transparent medium". The ideas he stated were never acted upon, but were used by a few other inventors and became the basis for the contact lens as we know it today. Contact Lens History - The Progress Becomes VisibleThen in 1887, F.E. Muller came up with the first tolerable transparent eye covering made of blown glass. This was advanced by Albert Fick in 1888 with the development of the first fitting of "scleral" on rabbits first, then himself and finally a volunteer test group. For the first time, light refraction was the center point. These blown glass contact lenses were used exclusively until the 1930's. At this time, a material called polymethyl methacrylate (a plastic) was developed. In 1936, William Feinbloom used this material to manufacture a contact lens that was tolerable for up to 16 hours of wear at a time. Up to this point, the lenses sat upon the entire sclera surface. In 1949, the design was upgraded to a corneal shape. The only obstacle left was that the material did not allow oxygen into the areas covered by the lens. This caused a number of clinically negative effects and ushered in the development of materials that were "oxygen permeable" known as RGP materials. The New Generation LensesMore recently, in 1999 to be exact, a new milestone was reached in contact lens history. A type of material known as silicone hydrogels was developed in Europe. This material was introduced in the USA in 2001. Silicone hydrogels are highly oxygen permeable by nature and can be worn as long as the wearer basically likes. The original idea was for overnight wear and was extremely comfortable and easy to apply and remove. That brings us to the modern day and to the close of this historical trek of the contact lens. Over 500 years of experimentation and technological advancement have brought comfort and reliability to the treatment of myopia.
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