Who Invented Contact Lenses-a

Who Invented Contact Lenses?

Contact lenses are this little flexible piece of thin plastic, that actually rests on the cornea of your eye, to improve your eyesight. Who invented contact lenses? While contact lenses were actually thought of, way before they were ever made, the question of whom actually invented these little miracle workers is still a mystery to some.

The first person known to think of something like the contact lens, was actually Leonardo da Vinci in the year1508. However, in the year of 1508, there was not nearly enough technology for such an invention to actually be made. Mr. Leonardo da Vinci then swept his idea under the rug, only to have it pulled back about again in the year 1636 by Rene Descartes. While neither of these people were able to actually invent the contact lenses, people with bad eyesight, continued to wear eyeglasses to help their poor vision.

Contact lenses were finally invented and actually produced in the year of 1887 by a German physiologist Adolf Eugen Fick. While at this time everyone was still skeptical about actually putting a piece of glass into their eye to improve their vision, Mr. Fick tested his new product on animals. Carefully making each contact lens to fit the animals he used for testing, Mr. Fick began to make contact lenses for people. The contact lenses that Adolf Eugen Fick made, were produced from a brown colored glass, that was heavy, therefore the end results were a contact lens that measured 18 to 21 mm in diameter.

Later in the year 1889, the contact lenses were improved by Augusta Muller. Mr. Muller then made the contact lenses so that they would improve the eyesight of someone who was near sighted. Nearsightedness is also known as myopia, and means that you can see up close, but not far away.

While the contact lenses that were made from the brown glass, served their purpose, they were later made with plastic, by Kevin Tuohy in the year 1948. Kevin Tuohy was an optician in California. Later in the 1970's came, what we know as the soft contact lenses and the gas permeable lenses, that we still wear today.

As you can see, the question of, who invented contact lenses should not be a mystery. While the contact lenses were thought of several times before they were invented, it actually took several tries before someone got it right.