How Do Contact Lenses Come Into Being? - By: RandaFritch

It is believed that almost everyone knows what contact lens is. It is a corrective, cosmetic, or therapeutic lens usually placed on the cornea of the eye. The emergence of contact lens helps people get rid of the traditional eyeglasses which are worn on nose in front of two eyes and restores the wears' natural charm.

With the development of contact lens industry, today we can find contact lenses for different usages, either for vision correction, appearance enhancement, even now people who wear bifocals or have astigmatism can utilize these magnificent lenses.

Additionally, great strides are being made in this industry. Maybe several years ago you will see greater miracles. This little lens will bring us greater surprise.

However a small amount of people know how contact lenses come into being and even fewer people know that the Italian inventor, artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci is credited with describing and sketching the first ideas for contact lenses in 1508, over 300 years ago since contact lens seems to be recent invention.

In 1508 when Leonardo da Vinci first described a method of directly altering corneal power by submerging the eyes in a bowl of water in his book, Code of the eye, Manual D, his interest was not fully placed on vision correction, but learning about the mechanisms of accommodation of the eye. However, his ideas ignited researchers' passions of creating another vision assistance to eliminate the trouble of wearing eye glasses.

Descartes in 1636 proposed another idea of placing a glass tube with water over the cornea and made it out then. The protruding end was to be composed of clear glass, shaped to correct vision; however, unlike contact lens today, the protruded outward of the glass lens was made it impossible for a person to blink, therefore, the idea was impracticable. However, it is considered the embryonic form of modern contact lens.

The first molds that could fit fairly comfortably over the cornea was created by Dr. Dallos, whose idea originated from John Herschel who in 1845, using the blue print, extrapolated on a "mould for the cornea" in Encyclopedia Metropolitana. This enabled the manufacture of lenses that, for the first time, conformed to the actual shape of the eye. But this was not the perfect contact as well, wearer with this eyewear was not able to see through the lens an got a clear vision.

Then, researches continued. It was not until 1887 that a German glassblower, F.E. Muller, produced the first eye covering to be able to seen through and tolerated. His creation was easy to use.

In 1888, anther German inventor named Adolf Eugene Fick improved Muller's contact and renamed it as "scleral contacts". Larger and uncomfortable as they were, they are regarded as the grandfather of contact lens in modern times.

In 1949, the first "corneal" lenses were developed, much smaller. They could merely sat on the cornea rather than across all of the visible ocular surface. Since then, modern contact lens industry was opened up, and various types of contact lenses that we are familiar with comes into being.

Here below is a brief introduction of contact types: hard lenses and soft lenses. Hard lenses are more durable while the soft ones are more comfortable to wear. It is not a must that which type is better than the other one. Each person, before buying contact lenses, should consult to eye doctors, so as to choose the type best fitting your needs.

It is the striving efforts of human beings that bring us all of these inventions which make our lives convenient and efficient. Therefore, we should feel grateful.

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