Contact Lens Materials Have Come A Long Way

It is amazing to consider what was used for the first contact lens materials. The first ones to be made and fitted successfully was in 1888, after Adolf Egen Fick, a German physiologist, created lenses made from a heavy glass. They were quite thick and could not be worn for more than a few hours. He tested them on rabbits in the beginning and then himself. After testing them on a group of volunteers, he fitted the first ones that were worn to correct eyesight.

This type of sclera lenses were the only known type of contact lens for years until the 1930s when the development of PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) made the manufacture of plastic sclera lenses possible. The first corneal lenses were created in 1949, but they were a type that were used only on the cornea. These contacts could remain in place for up to 16 hours before removing them.

Lens Materials Begin to Improve

When contacts were first used by the majority of people in the 1960s, the PMMA lenses were considered to be the most sophisticated lens material available. There was one disadvantage to these lenses however. Oxygen was not able to be sent through the lenses to the cornea and conjunctiva. This caused a number of effects that were not desirable for the contact wearer.

The 1970s and 1980s saw many improvements to the contact lens materials including the development of lenses that allowed air to pass through. The contact lens materials were called "rigid gas permeable" or "RGP". An important step in lens materials was the first soft lenses and the approval of "Softlens" in the U.S. in 1971 by the Food and Drug Administration.

Credit for the development of soft contact lenses is given to Otto Wichterle and Drahoslav Lim, Czech chemists whose work "Hydrophilic Gels for Biological Use" was published in 1959 in the journal "Nature". This work was responsible for the manufacture and marketing of the first hydro gel lenses in the 1960s.

These contact lenses became a very popular lens due to their comfort level. The material used for the Soflens was a polymacon. Over the next 25 years there were many improvements to the soft lenses, mainly the variance of materials used to allow the maximum oxygen permeability.

The first silicone hydro gels were introduced in 1999. The lens materials captured the benefits of using silicone. The comfort of silicone hydro gels made this type of contact lens quite popular. Thanks to this new material, there are types that may be worn continuously - even up to 30 nights. This contact lens, called continuous wear (CW) is generally a disposable type that can be thrown away after their specific wearing time is over.

Hydro gels were added to increase the comfort levels of this type of lens material. The common complaint of dryness while wearing contacts was compensated for by adding the hydro gels. Other lens materials have internal agents that help the surface of the lens to be hydrophilic or more tolerant of liquids.

From glass to silicone, lens materials have improved over the years. Since contact lens are used for the same purpose as eyeglasses - to correct eyesight - it is imperative that they are made from a material that is comfortable and easy to use. The contact lens today are often tinted slightly to make them easier to see when removing them for cleaning.

There are lens materials used today, such as a UV coating that helps protect the cornea from the sun as well as helping to decrease glare. The benefits of sunglasses without wearing them are just one more exciting step in the evolution of contact lens.

Improved manufacturing was responsible for the development of lens materials that perfected contacts for their use today. Lathe technology as well as the process of spinning silicon in a mold operating at a very high speed are used today for mass producing contact lens. This is referred to a spin-cast lenses. The lathe turned type cuts and polishes contact lens by using a CNC lathe.

Estimates are there are 125 million contact wearers in the world today. From 28 to 38 million are in the U.S. and 13 million wearers are in Japan. The early versions of the glass-blown contacts of 1888 have helped to make the lens materials used today. It is amazing what the world of technology has accomplished in such a short period of time.