The History of Contact Lenses

Would it surprise you to learn contact lenses were invented about half a millennium ago by one Leonardo da Vinci? Yes, the great Renaissance man himself designed and sketched ideas for several different kinds of contact lenses back in 1508. (Alhough he was 56 at the time, da Vinci himself had excellent vision, as evidenced by the meticulous accuracy of his drawings and paintings.) Unfortunately, the great Florentian thinker and inventor lacked the materials necessary to craft a working model. In 1632, Rene Descartes thought, therefore he was, the virtual inventor of the corneal contact lens, but he too failed to build a working contact lens. It wasn't until 1801 that Thomas Young was finally able to build on Descartes's theories of corrective optics. Young filled a quarter-inch-long glass tube with water, then floated a microscope lens in the outer end. (Incidentally, historians believe the microscope was probably invented by a Dutch spectacle maker named Zacharias Janssen around 1590.) Young's optical tube may not have been the most convenient implement for daily use, but he was able to correct his own blurry vision by using the device.

Herschel's Idea

A British astronomer by the name of Sir John Herschel was considered the leading scientist of his day--by which we mean the early nineteenth century. Although he made no widely familiar breakthroughs (unlike his father, who discovered the planet Uranus) Herschel did write several highly regarded papers on mathematics, astronomy, and the physical sciences. Among other big ideas, he suggested (in 1827) that a glasslike material might be ground into a curved lens that would rest directly on the eye. Now, a glass contact lens may not sound like an enjoyable experience, but a German glass blower named F. E. Muller was actually able to create such a device in 1887. One historian describes the glass lens as "tolerable," a decidedly underwhelming endorsement. A year later, Swiss and French physicians reported using contact lenses to correct impaired vision.

Feinbloom Begins Crafting Lenses

If glass lenses strike you as an uncomfortable idea, imagine what it must have been like to be a test patient in the lab of Hungarian doctor Joseph Dallos. In 1929, he invented a method of taking molds off the eyes of living people. To be fair, this did result in contact lenses that more closely followed the curvature of his patients' individual eyes.  In 1936, a New York optometrist named William Feinbloom became the first contact lens crafter in America. He also introduced the use of plastics in his lenses, thus ending almost fifty years of blown glass contact lens technology. (If ever there was a guy who deserved our thanks, it was the late, great Dr. Feinbloom.) Within a decade, contact lenses would become an established part of American optometry. This led to proper corneal lenses in 1950.

Breakthrough Lens Material

By 1960, Drahoslav Lim and Otto Wichterle devised a soft plastic suitable for flexible contact lenses; these "soft lenses" hit the American market in 1971. The 1970s also brought us toric contact lenses to correct astigmatism and gas permeable polymer lenses. The 1980s saw the invention of tinted, bifocal, and extended wear lenses. The 1990s were marked by a push toward disposable, two-week lenses, which leads us to the present-day state of the art. Who can say what the future will bring?

X-ray lenses, anyone?