History of Contact Lenses

The Early Contributors

• Leonardo da Vinci (1508): Sketches of a schematic eye, describes the mechanism of image formation from the cornea to the optic nerve, and may have represented the idea of a 'contact' lens.
• Rene Descartes (1637): Understood that better vision could be achieved by enlarging the retinal image, sketched an elongated tube filled with water placed against an eyeball, and demonstrated the principle of telescope, not the contact lens.
• Philip de la Hire (1685): Attempted to show various optical phenomena in myopes were corrected with spectacle glasses applied to the cornea, not a contact lens.
• Thomas Young (1801): Used a water-filled tube to study the accommodative process placed in contact with the eye, proved that the cornea played no part in the accommodative process, and not a contact lens.
• Sir John Herschel (1845): Postulated the fitting of a spherical glass or jelly over the corneal surface, made from an impression of the cornea, first person to describe the concept of cosmetic lenses, and father of contact lenses.

The Emergence of Contact Lenses

• Adolf E. Fick (1887): Invented "Contactbrille" or contact spectacles, used blown glass shells, and published the first paper on practical clinical attempts to correct visual problems.
• Eugene Kalt (1888): Devised the first contact lens for keratoconus, wanted to remodel the corneal curvature by using glass contact shells, and resulted in substantial visual improvement.
• August Muller (1889): Used the term "Hornhautlinsen" or contact lens, noted that a steeper corneal radius needed a larger dioptric correction, and attributed it to the lacrimal meniscus.

The Pioneering Contact Lens Companies

• FA Muller and Sons (1887): Artificial eye makers in Wiesbaden, Germany, fitted protective glass shell to the eye of a patient who had a partial lid removal, and made lenses from blown glass.
• CARL ZEISS of Jena (1911): Made lathe-cut lenses from molds, lathe cutting resulted in better optical performance, and first commercially available trial lenses.

Contact Lens Material Development

• Rohm and Haas (1930s): Produced an acrylic resin (called Plexiglass) for the aviation industry.
• J Crawford and R Hill of ICI (1934): Developed and patented polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), trade name of Perspex (latin for transparent).

PMMA for Scleral Contact Lenses

• William Feinbloom (1936): Developed a hybrid contact lens consisting of a glass corneal portion and translucent plastic scleral skirt.
• Ernest Mullen (1938): Discovered the effect of the lens tear layer, which altered the prescribed power of the lens.
• Theodore Obrig (1938): Discovered the use of fluorescein and cobalt blue light for examining the post-lens tear fluid, and established that comfort determined the success in wearing contact lenses.

Hydrogel and Silicone Contact Lenses (Soft CL)

• O Witchterle and D Lim (1954): Synthesized a hydrogel material compatible with the human body, first lenses fitted to human eyes in 1956 but were unsuccessful due to their heavy weight and fragility.
• National Patent Development Corporation and Dr. Robert Morrison bought spin-casting patent rights (1964), Bausch and Lomb acquired license to manufacture spin-cast lenses (1966), and US FDA classified soft contact lens as a 'drug' (1968).

Silicone Elastomer

• Walter Becker commenced his silicone elastomer contact lens patent (1956), Joe Breger acquired the Becker patent (1959), and The Dow Corning Company acquired Breger's technology (1972).
• Dow Corning received FDA approval for silicone in 1981 called "Silsoft", and technology was bought by B & L in 1985.

Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses (RGP)

• J Teissler (1937): Made scleral shells from cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB), first gas permeable lenses, and poor optical quality.
• The First Rigid Gas Permeable Lens: Silicone acrylate, 'Polycon' patented in 1972 by Norman Gaylord, and Leonard Seidner - Father of RGP.

Disposable Soft Contact Lenses

• Orlando Battista (1978): Developed collagen contact lenses, conceived the concept of throwaway or disposable lenses.
• Michael Bay (1980's): Developed 'Danalens' the first commercially available disposable lens.

Commercial Success with Disposable Lenses

• In 1987, Vistakon released the Acuvue lens on a limited basis in the USA.
• In 1988, Vistakon launched Acuvue; B & L launched Seequence; CIBA vision launched NewVues.

Daily Disposable Lenses (1994)

• First developed and marketed by Vistakon, Johnson and Johnson, and uses the automated continuous-flow process technique.

Discover the early contributors to the development of contact lenses, including Leonardo da Vinci and Rene Descartes. Learn about their ideas and sketches that laid the foundation for modern contact lenses.