A contact lens is a thin corrective, cosmetic or therapeutic lens placed directly on the surface of the eye, used by well over a hundred million people worldwide to correct vision without the frame of a pair of glasses. The German ophthalmologist Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick built the first functional contact lens prototype in 1888, a heavy scleral lens blown from glass that covered the whole visible eye surface, and the technology remained cumbersome until the Czech chemists Otto Wichterle and Drahoslav Lim developed the first soft hydrogel contact lens material in 1959. Soft lenses made daily wear practical and comfortable for a mass market, and contact lenses have since grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry serving both vision correction and cosmetic eye-color change.
Facts
Patent or First-Use DateFick's 1888 fitting was a clinical and scientific first, not a patented design; dated to that year, exact day not recorded. SignificanceContact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide in 2012 1 FAQs
How did soft contact lenses reach the United States market?
A 1965 rights deal brought them to Bausch & Lomb.
After Czech chemists Otto Wichterle and Drahoslav Lím published their hydrogel work in 1959, the National Patent Development Corporation bought the American rights to produce the lenses in 1965. It then sublicensed those rights to Bausch & Lomb, which began manufacturing them in the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration first approved the Soflens material in 1971.
Connections
In Field
Source Contact Lens (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Invented By
Source Otto Wichterle (National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee page)
Sources
1. Contact Lens (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory section, Fick fitting sentence
In 1888, Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick was the first to successfully fit contact lenses, which were made from blown glass
History section, Fick fitting sentence (dated)
In 1888, Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick was the first to successfully fit contact lenses, which were made from blown glass
History section, usage figure
Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide in 2012
In Field: Biomedical Engineering, Lead section
Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide in 2012, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons.
In Group: Assistive and Sensory Aid Devices, Introduction
Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide in 2012, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons.
View the Source Otto Wichterle (National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee page)
Invented By: Otto Wichterle, Inductee pageQuote, Invented By: Otto Wichterle, Inductee page
Otto Wichterle invented the soft contact lens and the process to manufacture it.
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