If you think contact lenses are a recent phenomena, then you are absolutely wrong. History of contact lenses can be traced long back. They are as old as the sixteenth century. The present-day contact lenses have been the efforts of many scientists and researchers. It has been their hard work that has led
to the evolution of the present day contact lenses.
Giving an answer to the question that who can be credited as the real inventor of contact lenses, will be a difficult task as contact lenses were the innovative hard work of a number of people.
However, the credit of the modern form of the contact lenses is generally given to F. E. Muller. He came up with the concept of contact lenses in 1887. Another researcher who is considered a pivotal contributor to the modern-day evolution of contact lenses is Rene Descartes. He was the one who brought up the concept of corneal contact lenses. John Herschels, a British scientist also made a commendable contribution to the contact lens technology.
A new era heralded in the second half of the nineteenth century as there were incredible inventions that were made in the field of contact lenses. This led to a spurt of knowledge about the contact lenses within the common man. This created a niche of people in society. At this point in time, Eugen Fick’s Scleral came up with some new concept of contact lenses. This new concept became a hit among the people. These lenses were then later modified and improved by August Miller.
The contact lens history took a new dimension with the advent of lenses made from scleral plastic. This diverted the attention of the researchers towards the development of a more sophisticated form of contact lenses. William Feinbloom took the contact lens industry on a higher stepping stone and is therefore considered a pioneer in the history of contact lenses. Another scientist named Joseph Dallas too earned good accolade for his phenomenal contribution.
As there was a technological revolution, various scientists came up with their contributions. George Butterfield contributed by bringing an improvement in the corneal lenses. With the silicone hydrogel contact lenses coming up, the focus was shifted towards more sophisticated and comfortable contact lenses.
All these points from history show that people from time to time were in a need of a better form of contact lenses. And even now the innovations have not stopped. Now and then the manufacturers are coming up with newer models of contact lenses. With the coming up of colored contact lenses, there has been a shift in their concept as they do not remain a commodity of vision correction but are now increasingly used for cosmetic purposes.
But as the saying goes: history never ends here. There are many more innovations that are still pending, they may come on the block soon.