Contact lens
A contact lens is a type of lens that are put directly onto the eye in order to help people see better. They are a different option instead of glasses. They have to be prescribed by an eye doctor. Some contact lenses can be used many times, while other types are disposable products used only once and then thrown away.
Contact Lens Media
Putting contacts in and taking them out
One-day disposable contact lenses with blue handling tint in blister-pack packaging
In 1888, Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick was the first to successfully fit contact lenses, which were made from blown glass
Otto Wichterle (pictured) and Drahoslav Lím introduced modern soft hydrogel lenses in 1959.
Woman wearing a cosmetic type of contact lens; enlarged detail shows the grain produced during the manufacturing process. Curving of the lines of printed dots suggests these lenses were manufactured by printing onto a flat sheet then shaping it.
Scleral lens, with visible outer edge resting on the sclera of a patient with severe dry eye syndrome
Contact lenses, other than the cosmetic variety, become almost invisible once inserted in the eye. Most corrective contact lenses come with a light "handling tint" that renders the lens slightly more visible on the eye. Soft contact lenses extend beyond the cornea, their rim sometimes visible against the sclera.
Molecular structure of silicone hydrogel used in flexible, oxygen-permeable contact lenses.
Other websites
- Consumer Guide to Contact Lenses Archived 2007-12-17 at the Wayback Machine (Articles)
- British Contact Lens Association Archived 2010-04-20 at the Wayback Machine
- Contact Lens History Archived 2012-12-21 at the Wayback Machine