https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf Contact lenses are one of the most inventive and useful inventions in history. Since the time of the visionary Leonardo da Vinci who designed a first sketch many years have passed. It is a beautiful and surprising story. en-us 2017-02-24 16:04:52 UTC 2025-11-14 05:16:32 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Terminator.png khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156064357 I am Cris, and I am a person with myopia, I wear glasses and sometimes lenses, I still marvel that you can get a perfect view with a piece of plastic in the eye and at the same time be very comfortable and safe. It is something almost magical that we give as normal but that required many years of development and research]]> 2017-02-24 16:14:44 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156064357 khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156064665 Sketch Leonardo da Vinci Contact Lenses Around 1508, "The Genius" Leonardo da Vinci considered the eyes to be the most important organ of the human body and added in the margin of one of his writings a drawing of an optical system consisting of a hemisphere Glass filled with water with a face submerged in it. Leonardo also drew lenses similar to the present ones, as well as the glass bulb from which they had to be carved.
On that basis, René Descartes, in 1636, designed a tube with a curvature similar to that of the cornea, full of water, by which he looked. Almost two centuries later, in 1823, the British astronomer Sir John Herschel suggested the creation of a lens with the shape of the eye that would adapt to it.]]> 2017-02-24 16:15:33 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156064665 khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156072797 The first contact lens, as such, was developed by the German manufacturer of eye prostheses (artificial glass eyes) F.A. Müller. His lens was a clear glass to protect the eyeball. From that beginning, the Swiss doctor Adolph Eugen Fick developed liquid filled glass lenses, making molds using guinea pigs own eyes. Adolph W. Müller-Welt began manufacturing hand-blown glass sclera lenses in Stuttgart since 1927 and his Müller-Welt Contact Linsen laboratory produced wide ranges of test lenses. They were very large and uncomfortable and tolerated few hours.]]> 2017-02-24 16:37:17 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156072797 khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156073210 In the development of contact lenses, the discovery of new transparent plastic polymers, in particular polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), was an extraordinary advance in the late 1930s. This material had a luminous transmissibility equal to that of glass , Was hard and unmouldable, scratch resistant, chemically inert, with a weight equivalent to about 40% of the weight of the glass. The famous rigid contact lenses came to stay for many years between us because despite being uncomfortable during the adaptation process the vision was very good and tolerance better than with the previous glass lenses.]]> 2017-02-24 16:38:22 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156073210 khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156079642 In the 1950s, a Czech chemist named Otto Wichterle invented a polymer called HEMA and used it to create a more flexible contact lens with a high water content.
A very enterprising American optometrist named Robert J. Morrison realized the enormous potential of this new material and traveled to Czechoslovakia, where he bought from the Czech government the rights to manufacture HEMA lenses according to the Wichterle technique for about US $ 330,000. The next step was to find a manufacturer to develop them but few were interested. Two investors, who were also patent attorneys, Martin Pollack and Jerome Feldman, owners of the National Patent Development Corp. (NPD), who knew nothing about contact lenses, realized the potential of this product and bought it To Morrison rights over the same for a million dollars. Morrison made a good profit, but National Patent Development was even bigger. After trying several major optical companies to get interested in this type of lens, they finally got Bausch & Lomb to acquire the patent for three million dollars (in 1967).
 Thanks to this new material the tolerance improved dramatically and the use of contact lenses became very popular. Unlike rigid lenses this type of contact lenses were very comfortable from the first day and allowed to do sports without risk of jumping out of the eye.]]> 2017-02-24 16:57:28 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156079642 khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156080172 These lenses greatly improved the PMMA of the rigid lenses existing up to that time because they allowed a large amount of oxygen to pass through it, preventing the corneal edemas that were quite frequent with hard lenses. The drawback is that they were deformed easier because the plastic material was not as stable as the PMMA.
Little by little they have been solving these problems and at the moment they are a very good alternative for the users, since they combine a very good quality of vision and eye health. It is a very recommendable option for certain cases.]]> 2017-02-24 16:59:11 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156080172 khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156080592 In the early 1980s, a Danish ophthalmologist named Michael Bay devised a way to make disposable soft lenses (hydrogel) with a new technology that made manufacturing costs much cheaper by creating a lens called Danalens. Vistakon (Johnson & Johnson) bought that technology and Michael Bay became a millionaire.]]> 2017-02-24 17:00:40 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156080592 khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156086665 In 1987, Vistakon (Johnson & Johnson) made history by releasing the first fortnightly disposable lens called Acuvue, with tremendous success since frequent change (in this case fortnightly lenses) greatly improved the comfort and visual health of users, because Problems arising from worn or deposited lenses were avoided. From that date onwards the other Contact Lens laboratories investigated to launch similar products.]]> 2017-02-24 17:19:33 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156086665 khristynna https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156087318 Future contact lenses will help prevent diseases and make more complex measurements of the human being]]> 2017-02-24 17:21:35 UTC https://padlet.com/khristynna/yozfyctzdf/wish/156087318