The History of the Contact Lens

When I wake up in the morning, the world is a blur. I can’t see a single thing until I put in my contact lenses. I have decided not to opt for laser surgery at this point in my life so I depend upon my circular lifesavers to see the world correctly. I have worn contacts since I was sixteen years old and am now forty-six. The history of the contact lens is rather interesting and the impact is tremendous.

Leonardo da Vinci actually sketched the first contact lens in the year 1508. His sketch was never realized but showed great foresight in the world of vision. It was actually 300 years after da Vinci before the concept was realized. Sir John Herschel, an English astronomer, hatched the idea of molding a person’s eyes to fit for contact lenses. The year was 1827; unfortunately there was not much demand for his product. Another fifty years passed before there was an additional advancement in the field.

In 1887, F.A. Muller, a German glassblower elaborated on Mueller’s idea and created the first documented glass contact lens. History does not tell us who volunteered to “try out’ his experiment. A year later, A.E. Fick (a physician) and Edouard Kalt (an optician) used a version of Muller’s glass lens to correct vision problems. Again, there was not much demand for the product. Imagine placing a piece of glass in your eye, it was a rather uncomfortable task. If the person were able to insert the glass contact into his eye, he would only be able to wear it for a very short time. One had to be careful not to scratch the cornea. Some of these first contacts covered the entire eye area. The eye was unable to breathe and infections were an issue. Most people opted to continue wearing their glasses.