Guide Note

Contact lenses are a form of corrective eyewear placed on the surface of the eye. They are a lightweight alternative to wearing standard glasses.

Fast Facts

1. Invented: 1887
2. Inventor: F.A. Muller
3. Gas Permeable lenses: Sharper vision
4. Soft lenses: Comfortable
5. Considered by some to be more attractive than glasses
6. Provide wider field of vision
7. Do not fog up
8. 125 million users worldwide
9. Must be kept clean and disinfected

Leonardo da Vinci is noted as the first person to introduce the idea of the contact lens in his 1958 Codex of the eye, Manuel D. In it, he described a method of how to alter vision. Several others wrote of ways to alter vision, but none were practical until 1887 when F.E. Muller produced the first contact lens that could be worn without discomfort. German physiologist Adolf Eugen Fick would then be the first to construct and successfully fitt the first contact lens.

While early contact lenses did not allow oxygen to pass through them, (which resulted in negative effects on health) today's lenses have been developed to be safer and more comfortable. Many lenses can be left in overnight without the worry of causing damage or loss of oxygen to the retina.

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