When were contact lenses invented? What are eye lenses? Names of species. What are contact lenses

If you, like me, were interested when you appeared contact lenses, then you will be incredibly surprised to learn that the first attempts to create them belong to ... Leonardo da Vinci! Yes, it was he who, back in the 16th century (more precisely, in 1508), created sketches depicting a certain device that can be used to correct vision. According to the sketches, the optical device should be mounted on the eye, and most modern specialists I am sure that it was it that became the prototype of the lenses that are used today.

Leonardo da Vinci is the inventor of contact lenses.

Note! Another "prototype" was invented by René Descartes in 1637. It was a small tube filled with water. A magnifying glass was inserted on one side, and the other was attached to the eye (it is typical that a person could not blink when using the device). Thus, a single optical system was formed.

1. A tube filled with water.
2. Magnifying glass.
3. Cornea.

But it was more of a spyglass than a contact lens. Thomas Young came much closer to the latter in 1801, creating a similar biconvex type pipe. If such a tube was attached to the eye, then refractive defects were compensated - in other words, the rays of light were focused directly on the retina.

Thomas Young

What happened next

As is often the case, da Vinci's invention was safely forgotten. It lasted almost 400 years, until in 1823 John Herschel, inspired by Jung's ideas (for some reason), described in detail the design of a corneal lens, proving the feasibility of the idea in practice. After 22 years, Herschel published a fundamental treatise in which he substantiated the possibility of treating astigmatism through optical device which is in contact with the cornea. In general, Herschel only combined all the information available at that time into one theory.

Other followers of Jung were his compatriots Siegrist and Lonstein. They are known for creating hydroscopes, devices based on Young's device and used to treat eyes with deformed corneas. The devices were a kind of scuba diver's mask - large sealed goggles in contact with the eye through the liquid. Obviously, due to the bulkiness and inconvenience, such “glasses” were not particularly popular. Moreover, wearing them for a long time caused maceration - softening of the skin around the eyes.

The hydroscopes of Siegrist and Lonstein looked something like this (of course, this is only an approximation, since I could not find images of the original device).

First steps: Fick, Kalt and Müller

The first models that were really kept on the eye appeared only in 1888 in Switzerland. famous doctor Adolf Fick described a product that would be called today. It was made of glass and weighed approximately 0.5 grams.

After doing some animal testing, Fick decided to move on to human eye. At first he made gypsum matrices, and then he cast the fixtures themselves on them. Further, he studied the tolerance of products, described in detail the adaptation period, studied the features of the distribution of oxygen and found out the reason for the appearance of "fog" in the eyes (the reason lay in the change in the cornea), after which he compiled the most detailed (according to at least, at that time) instruction manual. In 1896, he issued a textbook in which he described as many as eight (!) Possible directions for the development of this branch of vision correction.

Two years later, Eugene Kalt announced a new device for the treatment of keratoconus - special corneal lenses.

Note! It is generally accepted that it was Kalt who started the history of contact vision correction, although his products, despite the name, were actually the same scleral ones. They stably laid down on the eye, but at the same time caused irritation of the eyelids.

The big problem was individual selection. A year after Kalt's invention, August Müller first tried eye-casting technology. In the future, other doctors used this technology, using plastic or even paraffin. It is rather strange that such a cheap and safe technology has not gained popularity.

Mueller deserves it special attention. Not knowing about Fick's success, he literally started everything from scratch. For the manufacture of lenses, he resorted to the servants of the optician Gimrer, after which he carried out tests on his own eyes (Müller had poor eyesight- about -14). The works of the ophthalmologist are relevant to this day, although he learned, as they say, from his mistakes. For example, he was the first to draw attention to the problem of lack of oxygen when wearing lenses. He did not know how to provide air access, so he filled inner space plain water which quickly led to corneal edema. Unsuccessful were his attempts to use cocaine drops (as well as Fick's studies with 2 percent glucose). It was not until 1892 that the ophthalmologist Dor decided to use saline. Such know-how was very successful and was used until the 40s of the last century.

Muller scleral lenses

Initially, lenses had only two medical applications:

treatment of keratoconus;
myopia treatment.

Mass production

The manufacture of contact lenses for everyday use was first taken up by Muller, a glass blower from Germany (not the same, just a namesake). To create the optical part (the one that covered the cornea), he used transparent glass, and to create the scleral - white.

Since 1913, mass production of lenses began at the Carl Zeiss factory. Unlike Müller, he produced polished pieces that were better tolerated.

Note! For some time, Zeiss also produced corneal lenses, but they did not have much success, because they were unable to adhere to the cornea on their own. With the "sclera", as you know, there were no such difficulties in principle.

In the twenties, the Zeiss factory solved the problem of individual selection by starting the production of "diopter" sets, from which doctors chose those that suit a particular patient. The selection was, of course, very exemplary, but the eyes were no longer “raped”.

Further development. 20th century

With the advent of the twentieth century, the technique of contact vision correction has undergone a number of significant changes.

Plastic Application (PMMA)

The real revolution took place in 1938, when the Americans T. Obrig and D. Mahler began manufacturing scleral lenses from a synthetic plastic called polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). This greatly facilitated the production technology, since light plastic products fit perfectly on the eye and did not slip, unlike glass counterparts. As a result, in 1947 they began to produce plastic corneal lenses with a diameter of 1.2 cm, which greatly improved visibility and portability.

With the innovation of Mahler and Aubrig, the official "reckoning" of modern contact correction is carried out, although its history, as we have already said, began much earlier. Plastic was much more convenient than glass, but still had its drawbacks, chief among which were discomfort and irritation of the cornea.

Polymer lenses

The next revolution was caused by the German ophthalmologist Otto Wichterle. In the sixties of the last century, he patented the technology for making contact lenses from synthetic polymers. Such products were soft, so they were practically not perceived as foreign objects. Consequently, the last reason for people's distrust of such vision correction has disappeared.

What do we have today

Since then, there have been practically no changes in the structure of contact lenses. Yes, toric lenses appeared, then, in 1979, solid gas-tight lenses, and soon there were products that could be worn long time without taking off. But all this is already work on improvement, aimed at increasing the comfort of the patient. To achieve this, three methods are used (simultaneously).

New materials are constantly being tested in order to pick up one that will not be felt in the eye.
Means of care and sterilization are constantly being improved.
Various manipulations are carried out with the wearing modes, because the longer the lens is worn, the more deposits accumulate on it.

Who invented colored contact lenses?

The first tinted lenses appeared not so long ago - in 1981 - and were intended to change the color of the eyes. The creator was CIVISion Corporation. Characteristically, the color was changed not for aesthetic purposes, but for more convenient handling compared to transparent products.

Video - Colored contact lenses for dark eyes

Note! An important achievement was the creation of lenses for athletes. Such models enhanced certain spectra, and absorbed the rest of the colors, thereby achieving a reflective effect. This is very useful for athletes who need to see some colors better than others (for example, a yellow tennis ball).

Soon there were decorative lenses with no corrective effect. Some of them were called carnival because they looked unnatural and allowed you to turn the eyes into "cat" or "vampire eyes". This also includes multi-colored scleral lenses (including).

The modern lens cat eye". Beautiful, isn't it?

Now you know who invented contact lenses. What will happen next - time will tell. All the best!

Contact lenses can solve a huge number of problems associated with vision. Currently, their range is so large that an ignorant person simply does not understand what to do and which ones to choose. Today, properly selected ones give a person the opportunity to feel comfortable from the very first day of their use. And thanks to the wide variety of products, you can easily choose the most suitable in terms of price and quality.

The types of lenses for the eyes today are determined by the following features:

Hard Features

Rigid lenses are always prescribed only by an ophthalmologist. An indication for this may be a change in the shape of the cornea or lens if treatment is not possible. soft lenses(for example, astigmatism). Adaptation to them may take some time, in the first few days they will be felt and “interfere” when blinking, but this is normal, you can get used to it over time. The undoubted advantage of such lenses is that they are made personally for each person, since the contours and structure must exactly match the patient's cornea, otherwise it will be impossible to wear them. Can be both plus and minus.

Among them, there are also two types: gas-permeable, through which oxygen can pass, and gas-tight.

Pros of hard types:

Long service life;
Form stability;
Good visual effect, sharp image;
Easily cleaned from dirt.

Description of soft

According to statistics, these lenses are the most popular today. They are prescribed in cases of visual impairment - such as, for example, myopia or hyperopia. Besides, they are used to apply to the surface eye medications when treating after any injury.

Pros of soft types:

Fast adaptation and wearing comfort;
Good gas permeability;
They do not give a feeling of "something superfluous" on the retina;

Soft lenses, in turn, are also divided into types: hydrogel (having great elasticity and elasticity, do not “dry” the eyes due to their own moisture) and silico-hydrogel - slightly less elastic, with a good gas permeability coefficient. They also have a high moisture content.

These lenses, due to the peculiarities of their structure, have some nuances when used. You have to be extremely careful with them. because they are simply may break if not handled carefully. It is also necessary to store them in a small container with a special solution.

By wear time

Each eye lens company sets certain limits on the "shelf life" of their product, after which it is necessary to replace them with new ones.

Each manufacturer has its own individual service life, described in the instructions, but there is general classification, which looks like this:

All types require replacement after some time, determined by the manufacturer. You can’t save on this and walk with old pairs, because, losing in hygiene and quality, they negatively affect a person’s vision.

By time of use

It is worth distinguishing between “time of use” (the same as “wearing mode”) and “wearing period”. The first implies the maximum time period that allows the wearing of lenses without interruption. What exactly will this time be?, depends on the product itself and the manufacturer.

According to the mode of wearing, the following can be distinguished:

It is important to remember that all lenses have an individual period of use indicated in the instructions. Wearing them beyond the specified time will entail the risk of harm to the health of the patient's eyes. This is due to the fact that the materials from which they are made lose their properties over time. As a result, it turns out that when wearing such lenses, there is almost no gas exchange at all. and there is no proper hydration of the eye. Thus, you can get not only visual impairment, but also redness, itching and dryness of the mucous membranes.

Cosmetic Varieties

Initially, these products were created to hide any eye defects, whether acquired or congenital. But time runs and trends are changing. Today, images have become fashionable that a few years ago would have seemed too unusual. And just cosmetic lenses are great for this, changing the natural color of the eyes.

They, in turn, have two subtypes: colored and tinted. It is worth noting that the latter do not completely change the color of the iris, but only “correct” it. And in the case of a brown shade, it will be very difficult to do this, so this technology is most often used by people with a light iris.

Both types are also optical power, and without it. This allows you to change the aesthetic properties while improving vision.

Colored allow you to achieve exactly the color that the patient wants. Their pupillary area remains colorless, thanks to which excellent optical characteristics. If a few years ago it was possible to find such products that differ only in color, now new types are appearing, allowing you to experiment even more with appearance.

A recent novelty in the world of optics - "crazy" lenses. They involve not just changing the natural color of the eyes, but “applying” some patterns and patterns. This accessory is perfect for going to a holiday, carnival, theme party. They are also in great demand among professional theater actors.

Various congenital or acquired diseases visual system can lead to changes in the structures of the eye. One type of conservative solution to such problems is the wearing of specially made contact lenses.

Not everyone knows what lenses for the whole eye are called. This is one of the types of special lenses - scleral. They are used when it is impossible to wear ordinary, due to the shape or some other features of the cornea. There are several subtypes of such lenses, depending on their size and diameter.

Orthokeratology lenses- perhaps the most difficult to manufacture of all presented. In order to ideally select such a pair, you need to conduct research on a keratotopograph. And yes, they will be very expensive.

There is also a hybrid species - the toughest on the list. It is prescribed only by the attending physician.

Just before you go to the optics store and order the lenses you need, you should definitely go through full examination at the ophthalmologist. Most of the changes and deviations from the norm can be noticed by a specialist at such a reception. Next, depending on clinical picture will be appointed necessary medicines and selected lenses.

This does not apply to cases where the lenses are not medical in nature, such as colored lenses. They serve only for aesthetics and are selected personally by the client. But even here, many would prefer to play it safe and consult a doctor first.

When buying such a product, you need to understand that this is not a toy, and such a thing directly affects health. Therefore, care and use must be appropriate.

If you follow the rules and fully comply with and follow all the recommendations of the attending ophthalmologist, then contact types won't be a problem at all. This is a kind of convenient “gadget” that allows you to restore your vision without unnecessary discomfort without wearing classic glasses.

Attention, only TODAY!

(that is, to improve visual acuity), with the exception of decorative and cosmetic contact lenses - they can not only correct vision, but also decorate the eyes.

Contact lenses, according to experts, are about 125 million people in the world. The method of correcting vision with contact lenses is called contact vision correction.

More than 40% of those who wear contact lenses are young people between the ages of 12 and 25. And among those who wear contact lenses for the first time, the proportion of young people under the age of 35 is almost 90%, while women among them - 70%

Story

For the first time the idea to use contact correction expressed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1508. In the archive of his works there is a drawing of an eye with a bath filled with water - the prototype of modern contact lenses. In 1888, Adolf Fick described the first glass lens with optical power. The first lens was made and introduced into medical practice by the German inventor August Müller.

Until the 1960s, contact lenses were made only from organic glass (PMMA). Rigid PMMA lenses were uncomfortable to wear, caused a sensation of a foreign body in the eye and did not pass to the cornea of the eye necessary for it. normal functioning oxygen.

Material
Radius of curvature (BC, BCR)
Lens diameter (D, OAD)
optical power
Cylinder axis
Lens center thickness
Wearing mode
Replacement frequency
Design

1 day (one-day contact lenses),
1-2 weeks
1 month (monthly replacement lenses),
3 or 6 months
1 year (traditional lenses).

Extended wear lenses without replacement (6-12 months) are packaged in vials. More frequent replacement lenses are packaged in blister packs.

daytime (lenses are put on in the morning and removed before going to bed),
prolonged (lenses are put on for 7 days and are not removed at night),
flexible (lenses are worn for 1-2 days without removing),
continuous (continuous wearing of lenses for up to 30 days is possible without removing them at night; the mode is allowed only for some silicone hydrogel lenses; consultation of an ophthalmologist is required for its use).

contact lens design:

Spherical myopia and hyperopia.
toric contact lenses are used to correct myopia and hyperopia in the presence of astigmatism.
Multifocal Contact lenses are used to correct presbyopia.

Aspheric designs can be used in all types of lenses to improve vision.

Various materials are used to make contact lenses. Most constitute hydrogel polymers. Silicone hydrogel There are only about 10 materials.

contact lens material largely determines its properties. The main characteristics of the material are water content and oxygen permeability.

Depending on the water content in the lens material, they are divided into:

lenses with low content water (<50 %),
lenses with an average water content (about 50%),
lenses with high water content (>50%).

For hydrogel contact lenses than more content water, the more they pass oxygen to the cornea of the eye, which has a positive effect on eye health. However, as the water content increases, hydrogel lenses become too soft and difficult to handle. That's why maximum content water in hydrogel lenses does not exceed 70%. For silicone hydrogel lenses, oxygen transmission is not related to water content.

Contact Lens Ability pass oxygen characterized by a special coefficient Dk/t (Dk is the oxygen permeability of the lens material, and t is the thickness of the lens in the center). For hydrogel lenses, Dk/t is usually in the range of 20-30 units. This is enough for daily wear. In order for the lenses to be left on the eyes overnight, much higher values are required. Silicone hydrogel contact lenses have a Dk/t of the order of 70-170 units.

Radius of curvature paired with diameter contact lens affects how the lens "sits" in the eye. Typically, lenses are available in one or two radii of curvature. Poor fit of a contact lens due to a discrepancy between the radius of curvature of the lens and the shape of the cornea can lead to refusal to wear contact lenses.

Basic optical parameters contact lens: the power of the sphere (in diopters, with a "+" or "-"), the power of the cylinder (in diopters) and the position of the axis of the cylinder (in degrees). The last two parameters are indicated for toric contact lenses used to correct astigmatism.

Eye designations in the recipe: OD- right eye, OS- left eye.

The parameters of contact lenses for the left and right eyes in one patient, generally speaking, may not coincide.

Hygiene and contraindications

With the right medical selection, compliance with all recommendations on the timing of wearing, handling and processing, contact lenses are not capable of harming vision.

If the hygiene rules are not followed, the lenses are not properly processed, infection of the mucous membrane of the eye is possible. In case of non-compliance with the terms of wearing, regular overwearing of planned replacement lenses, use of lenses with low oxygen permeability, gradual vascular germination into the cornea of the eye (corneal neovascularization) and other complications are possible, which are often irreversible and are a contraindication to further wearing contact lenses.

Anyone who wears contact lenses should be preventive examinations ophthalmologist at least once a year.

Wearing contact lenses in frosty weather is not contraindicated.

Colored contact lenses

Contact lens manufacturers sometimes emphasize their cosmetic role in advertisements.

colored contact lenses are used to radically change the color of the iris, tint- respectively, to enhance or change the hue. Colored and tinted contact lenses are available both with diopters, for correcting vision and changing the shade of the eyes at the same time, and “zero”, for those who want to achieve only a cosmetic effect.

Colored lenses do not affect the color perception of surrounding objects, since they are transparent in the center.

Precautionary measures

If the lenses are chosen incorrectly, "float" in the eye - interference and discomfort are inevitable, you should consult a doctor. It is not recommended to wear colored and tinted lenses in the twilight and dark time days, since the human pupil at insufficient lighting expands, the colored part of the lens enters the visibility zone, which is perceived as interference, a veil before the eyes.

It is forbidden to drive a car in colored and tinted contact lenses, as well as to perform other work that requires increased visual attention and speed of motor reactions.

Swimming and bathing in lenses is only allowed if you use sealed goggles for swimming or a mask. In lenses, you can not visit the sauna and bath. If you took a shower or swam in lenses (without glasses or a mask), you must immediately change them for a fresh pair.

Leading contact lens manufacturers

Cooper Vision
Maxima Optics
Interojo

Production of contact lenses

There are several methods for manufacturing lenses: centrifugal molding, turning, casting, as well as methods that combine these techniques.

Turning- "dry" polymerized blanks are processed on a lathe. By using computer programs controls are obtained by lenses of complex geometry with two or more radii of curvature. After turning, the lenses are polished, hydrated (saturated with water) to the required parameters and undergo chemical cleaning. At the end of the cycle, the lens is tinted, checked, sterilized, packaged and labelled.

Casting- less time-consuming method than turning. First, a metal mold-matrix is made, for each set of lens parameters - its own. Plastic molds are cast along the matrix, into which a liquid polymer is poured, which hardens under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. Finished lens polished, hydrated, tinted, sterilized and packaged.

Centrifugal molding- most old way production of soft contact lenses, but is still used today. The liquid polymer is injected into a mold rotating at a certain speed, where it is immediately exposed to temperature and/or ultraviolet radiation, resulting in hardening. The workpiece is taken out of the mold, hydrated and subjected to the same processing as in turning.

One example combined method production of contact lenses - Reverse process III. With this method, the front surface of the lens is obtained by rotation molding, and the back - by turning.

In school physics lessons, we remember that light rays propagate in a straight line. Any object in their path partially absorbs light, partially reflects at the same angle at which it falls. The only exception is when light passes through a transparent object. At the boundary of two transparent media with different densities (for example, air and water or glass), the rays of light are refracted to a greater or lesser extent, and amazing optical effects arise, depending on the physical characteristics of the object through which the light passes.

This property of light allows you to control the course of rays, changing their direction or turning a divergent beam of rays into a convergent one, and vice versa. In practice, this can be achieved using specially processed devices made of optically transparent homogeneous material, which are called lenses (from Latin lens "lentil"). Looking at an object through lenses with different physical and chemical characteristics, we will see it straight or inverted, enlarged or reduced, clear or distorted.

The simplest lens is a carefully ground and polished piece of highly transparent substance (glass, plastic, mineral), bounded by two refractive surfaces, two spherical or flat and spherical (although there are lenses with more complex aspherical surfaces). Lenses in which the middle is thicker than the edges are called converging (positive), scattering (negative) lenses are called lenses in which the edges are thicker than the middle. positive lens has the ability to collect rays falling on it at one point located on the other side of it, in focus. A negative lens, on the contrary, deflects the rays passing through it towards the edges.

The simplest lens made of rock crystal.

Although the scope of the use of lenses in science and technology is very large, their main functions are reduced to a few basic ones. This is the accumulation of thermal energy of light rays, visual approximation and magnification of small or distant objects, as well as vision correction, because the lens of the eye by its nature is a lens with variable surface curvature. People began to use some properties of lenses earlier, others later, however, these optical devices have been known to them since ancient times.

Exist different opinions about when people learned to get fire with the help of sunlight and polished pieces of transparent stone or glass with a convex surface. It can be said for sure that this method was known in Ancient Greece in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., as it is described in the play "Clouds" by Aristophanes. However, lenses made of rock crystal, quartz, precious and semi-precious stones much older. One of the most ancient lenses, the so-called god with glasses, was discovered during the excavations of Uruk, an ancient city-state in Mesopotamia. The age of this lens is about 6 thousand years, and the purpose remains a mystery.

In Egypt during the IV-XIII dynasties (III-II millennium BC), crystal lenses were used for ... eye models for statues. Optometric studies have shown that the models are very close to the real shape and optical qualities of the eye, and sometimes even show visual impairments, such as astigmatism.

Alabaster "idols with eyes". Tel Brak site, Syria. IV millennium BC. e.

Unfortunately, over time, the secret of making such lenses was lost; the false eyes of the statues began to be made of stone or faience. Technique " glass eyes”, although with less perfection, the ancient Greeks also owned. For example, bronze statues of the 5th century BC were equipped with lenses. BC e., found in the sea off the coast of Calabria. But before the "official" discovery of the optical properties of the eye, there were still many centuries!

During excavations in the territory of Mesopotamia, Greece and Etruria, a considerable number of crystal lenses were found dating back to about the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. A study of their finish showed that the lenses were used both for visual magnification and as decorations. In fact, these were real magnifiers with a short focal length, increasing the angle of view. In addition, miniature gems were found in Greece, connected by a frame with convex lenses; these gems could not have been made without an optical increase in the working field. All this indicates that loupes were used long before the magnifying effect of lenses was recorded in scientific sources.

When exactly the lenses began to be used for vision correction has not yet been established. There is an opinion, however, not supported by anything, that it was for this purpose that the lenses discovered during the excavations of ancient Troy were used. In the writings of the Roman historian of the 1st century. Pliny the Elder mentions that the emperor Nero, who suffered from myopia, watched gladiator fights through a concave lens carved from emerald, this was a kind of prototype of glasses. Some historians, based on ancient engravings, believe that glasses were invented in China in the 7th-9th centuries, but whether they were optical or sunscreen is not known for sure.

The study of the eye as an optical system was first taken seriously by an Arab scientist of the 9th century. Abu Ali al-Hasan, known in Europe as Al-khazen. In his fundamental work, The Book of Optics, he relied on the research of a Roman physician of the 2nd century BC. Galena. Al-Hassan described in detail how an image of an object is created on the retina of the eye with the help of a lens. However, the essence of myopia, farsightedness and other visual defects, in which the focus of the lens shifts relative to the retina, was finally clarified only in the 19th century, and before that, glasses were selected virtually at random until the desired effect was achieved.

Mysterious optics

On the Swedish island of Gotland, in a hoard buried about a thousand years ago by the Vikings, lenses of a complex aspherical shape made of rock crystal were found. similar shape lenses was theoretically calculated only in the 17th century. Rene Descartes. In his work, he pointed out that these lenses will give an excellent image, but still for a long time no optician could make them. It remains a mystery who and for what purpose could grind the lenses from the Viking hoard.

Glasses seller. Engraving after a painting by Giovanni Stradano. 16th century

It is believed that glasses were invented in Italy at the end of the 13th century, their invention is attributed to the monk Alessandro Spina or another monk Salvino D "Armata. The first documentary evidence of the existence of glasses dates back to 1289, and their first image was found in the Treviso church on fresco, painted in 1352 by the monk Tommaso da Modena.Until the 16th century, glasses were used only for farsightedness, then glasses with concave lenses for nearsightedness appeared.Over time, the shape of the glasses appeared frame, temples.In the 19th century, Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals. Lenses that are at the top for distance and at the bottom for near work.

J. B. Chardin. Self-portrait with glasses. 1775

Jan van Eyck. Madonna and Child with Canon Joris van der Pale. Fragment. 1436

Photochromic lenses (“chameleons”) were created in 1964 by Corning specialists. These were glass lenses, the photochromic properties of which were imparted by silver and copper salts. Polymer lenses with photochromic properties appeared in the early 1980s, but due to significant shortcomings low speed darkening and lightening, as well as extraneous color shades, are not widely used. In 1990, Transition optical released more advanced plastic photochromic lenses that gained immense popularity.

Contact lenses are considered a relatively young invention, but Leonardo da Vinci worked on their device. How to put the lens directly on eyeball, many scientists thought, but only in 1888 the Swiss ophthalmologist Adolf Fick described the device of a contact lens and started experiments. Mass production of contact lenses was started in Germany by the famous optical company Carl Zeiss. The first samples were completely glass, quite large and heavy. In 1937, polymethyl methacrylate lenses appeared. In 1960, Czechoslovak scientists Otto Wichterle and Dragoslav Lim synthesized a new polymer material HEMA developed the rotational polymerization method and carried out the production of soft contact lenses. At the same time, hydrogel lenses were developed in the USA.

With regard to the magnifying power of single lenses, it soon became clear that it was limited, since an increase in the convexity of the lens leads to distortion of the image. But if you place two lenses (eyepiece and objective) between the eye and the object in series, the magnification will be much greater. With the help of a lens at the focal point, a real image of the observed object is created, which is then enlarged by an eyepiece that acts as a magnifying glass. The invention of the microscope (from the Greek mikros "small" and skopeo "look") is associated with the names of the Dutch John Lippershey and father and son Jansen (late 16th century). In 1624, Galileo Galilei created his compound microscope. The first microscopes gave a magnification of up to 500 times, while modern optical microscopes allow you to achieve a 2000-fold increase.

Simultaneously with the first microscopes, telescopes (or spyglasses) appeared (their invention is attributed to the Dutchmen Zacharias Jansen and Jakob Metius, although Leonardo da Vinci made the first attempts to look at stars with lenses). Galileo was the first to point a spotting scope at the sky, turning it into a telescope (from the Greek tele “far away”). The principle of operation of an optical telescope is the same as that of a microscope, the only difference is that the microscope lens gives an image of a close small body, and a large distant telescope. However, since the end of the 17th century, telescopes have used a concave mirror as an objective.

Otto Wichterle in the laboratory.

Among other things, lenses are used in the field of photography, film, television and video filming, as well as for the projection of finished images. The lens of a camera and similar equipment is an optical system of several lenses, sometimes in combination with mirrors, which is designed to project an image onto a flat surface. The curvature of the objective lenses is calculated so that possible aberrations (distortions) are mutually compensated. Joseph Niépce, who created one of the first cameras in 1816, borrowed a lens for it from a microscope.

Since the second half of the last century, for observations of various micro and macro objects, along with optical systems higher resolution electronics are used. However, lenses are still used so widely that it would be rather difficult to list all their applications.

Camera of Joseph Niépce.

Telescope refractor at the Lick Observatory. California, USA.

May 25th, 2016. 10:12 am

If someone thinks that the idea of creating contact lenses belongs to an ultra-modern society, then he is deeply mistaken. The first sketches of the prototype of modern CLs were made by Leonardo da Vinci himself back in 1508. The drawings of the genius that have survived to this day depict a device consisting of a ball filled with water and designed to correct vision. And what is most striking - this design, according to the author's idea, was to be installed on the eyes!

Unfortunately, during the lifetime of the great scientist and artist, the idea of creating a device that helps the eye to see better did not find support in society and was forgotten for several long centuries. Only in the eighteenth century, quite by accident, as often happens, trying to help his friend, who was left without a century, the German glass blower Friedrich Müller blew out the first contact lens in history. The great-great-grandmother of the modern soft contact lens was a glass prosthesis that covered the entire eye. The part of the prosthesis adjacent to the sclera was made of white glass, and a small part above the pupil remained transparent.

Muller's invention was met with great enthusiasm in the then medical community, especially since the sufferer's eye, protected from the external environment, began to feel somewhat better. Thus, the glass blower opened a workshop for the production of prosthetic eyes, and the scientific minds took up their improvement. Only three decades later, thanks to the invention of Muller, it became possible to correct vision. In appearance, these were already more elegant glass eye "caps" made of transparent glass, more naturally repeating the shape of the eyeball. They were produced in sets, and differed from each other in various parameters, and everyone could choose the right pair.

glass foreign bodies, even if they are able to improve vision, it was very difficult to wear constantly, because due to the accumulation of fluid, patients often experienced swelling of the organs of the eye.

Later it became clear that the cause of this phenomenon is the gas impermeability of the lens, and too large a contact area with a limited supply of oxygen to the biological tissues of the eye.

But science did not stand still, and in the middle of the last twentieth century, there were several real breakthroughs that brought the emergence of modern MCL closer. First, Kevin Touhy invented a plastic lens that covers only the cornea. However, plastic too hard for a sensitive eye caused discomfort. A few years later, the Czech scientist Otto Wichterle and the engineer Dragoslav Lim introduced the world to a material that could absorb water and then become elastic. These products are called soft contact lenses, or soft contact lenses for short. Since that moment, SCLs have become what we are used to seeing them today - comfortable, non-irritating, breathable and easy to use. But the most curious thing in this whole story is the fact that to make a miracle material, the inventors used a device made from a bicycle tire and a children's designer. Connoisseurs of modern contact lenses and simply interesting finds can still admire the miracle unit in the Czech National Museum.

Today, there are already rumors that the LCL will soon be able to check blood sugar levels, or even serve as a navigator in unfamiliar terrain. So it looks like it's far from final destination in the evolution of contact lenses.

Who Invented Lens - When Was It Invented?

This property of light allows you to control the course of rays, changing their direction or turning a divergent beam of rays into a convergent one, and vice versa. In practice, this can be achieved using specially processed devices made of optically transparent homogeneous material, which are called lenses (from Latin lens "lentil"). Looking at an object through lenses with different physical and chemical characteristics, we will see it upright or inverted, enlarged or reduced, clear or distorted.

The simplest lens is a carefully ground and polished piece of highly transparent substance (glass, plastic, mineral), bounded by two refractive surfaces, two spherical or flat and spherical (although there are lenses with more complex aspherical surfaces). Lenses in which the middle is thicker than the edges are called converging (positive), scattering (negative) lenses are called lenses in which the edges are thicker than the middle. A positive lens has the ability to collect rays incident on it at one point located on the other side of it, in focus. A negative lens, on the contrary, deflects the rays passing through it towards the edges.

The simplest lens made of rock crystal.

There are different opinions about when people learned to make fire with the help of sunlight and polished pieces of transparent stone or glass with a convex surface. We can say for sure that this method was known in Ancient Greece in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. because it is described in the play "Clouds" by Aristophanes. However, lenses made of rock crystal, quartz, precious and semi-precious stones found during excavations are much older. One of the most ancient lenses, the so-called god with glasses, was discovered during the excavations of Uruk, an ancient city-state in Mesopotamia. The age of this lens is about 6 thousand years, and the purpose remains a mystery.

In Egypt during the IV-XIII dynasties (III-II millennium BC), crystal lenses were used for. models of the eyes of the statues. Optometric studies have shown that the models are very close to the real shape and optical qualities of the eye, and sometimes even show visual impairments, such as astigmatism.

Alabaster "idols with eyes". Tel Brak site, Syria. IV millennium BC. e.

Unfortunately, over time, the secret of making such lenses was lost; the false eyes of the statues began to be made of stone or faience. The technique of "glass eyes", although with less perfection, was also mastered by the ancient Greeks. For example, bronze statues of the 5th century BC were equipped with lenses. BC e. found in the sea off the coast of Calabria. But before the "official" discovery of the optical properties of the eye, there were still many centuries!

When exactly the lenses began to be used for vision correction has not yet been established. There is an opinion, however, not supported by anything, that it was for this purpose that the lenses discovered during the excavations of ancient Troy were used. In the writings of the Roman historian of the 1st century. Pliny the Elder mentions that the emperor Nero, who suffered from myopia, watched gladiator fights through a concave lens carved from emerald, this was a kind of prototype of glasses. Some historians, based on ancient engravings, believe that glasses were invented in China in the 7th-9th centuries. but whether they were optical or sunscreen is not exactly known.

The study of the eye as an optical system was first taken seriously by an Arab scientist of the 9th century. Abu Ali al-Hasan, known in Europe as Al-khazen. In his fundamental work, The Book of Optics, he relied on the research of a Roman physician of the 2nd century BC. Galena. Al-Hassan described in detail how an image of an object is created on the retina of the eye with the help of a lens. However, the essence of myopia, farsightedness and other visual defects, in which the focus of the lens shifts relative to the retina, was finally clarified only in the 19th century. and before that, points were chosen virtually at random until the desired effect was achieved.

On the Swedish island of Gotland, in a hoard buried about a thousand years ago by the Vikings, lenses of a complex aspherical shape made of rock crystal were found. A similar form of lenses was theoretically calculated only in the 17th century. Rene Descartes. In his work, he indicated that these lenses would give excellent images, but for a long time no optician could make them. It remains a mystery who and for what purpose could grind the lenses from the Viking hoard.

Glasses seller. Engraving after a painting by Giovanni Stradano. 16th century

It is believed that glasses were invented in Italy at the end of the 13th century. their invention is attributed to the monk Alessandro Spina or another monk Salvino D "Armata. The first documentary evidence of the existence of glasses dates back to 1289, and their first image was found in the church of Treviso on a fresco painted in 1352 by the monk Tommaso da Modena. Until the 16th century glasses were used only for farsightedness, then glasses with concave glasses for nearsightedness appeared.Over time, the shape of the glasses changed and the frame, temples appeared.In the 19th century, Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal lenses, which are designed for distance at the top and work at the bottom close.

J. B. Chardin. Self-portrait with glasses. 1775

Jan van Eyck. Madonna and Child with Canon Joris van der Pale. Fragment. 1436

Photochromic lenses (“chameleons”) were created in 1964 by Corning specialists. These were glass lenses, the photochromic properties of which were imparted by silver and copper salts. Polymer lenses with photochromic properties appeared in the early 1980s, but due to significant shortcomings, the low rate of darkening and lightening, as well as extraneous color shades, were not widely used. In 1990, Transition optical introduced more advanced plastic photochromic lenses, which gained immense popularity.

Contact lenses are considered a relatively young invention, but Leonardo da Vinci worked on their device. Many scientists thought about how to put the lens directly on the eyeball, but only in 1888 the Swiss ophthalmologist Adolf Fick described the device of the contact lens and began to experiment. Mass production of contact lenses was started in Germany by the famous optical company Carl Zeiss. The first samples were completely glass, quite large and heavy. In 1937, polymethyl methacrylate lenses appeared. In 1960, Czechoslovak scientists Otto Wichterle and Dragoslav Lim synthesized a new polymer material HEMA, developed a method of rotational polymerization and produced soft contact lenses. At the same time, hydrogel lenses were developed in the USA.

Otto Wichterle in the laboratory.

Since the second half of the last century, along with optical systems, electronics with a higher resolution have been used to observe various micro- and macro-objects. However, lenses are still used so widely that it would be rather difficult to list all their applications.

Camera of Joseph Niépce.

Telescope refractor at the Lick Observatory. California, USA.

The First Contact Lenses - Who Invented? | Inventions and discoveries

Contact lenses instead of glasses are chosen not only for beauty. With severe myopia, with some specific disorders vision and for sports, their advantages are undeniable. We owe the possibility of choosing between one and the other to Heinrich Wölck, who invented contact lenses made of plexiglass in 1940.

Forerunners and pioneers

The idea of optical glass worn directly on the eye came as early as 1636 to the French philosopher René Descartes. But it took almost 250 years until Adolf Eigen Flick created a contact lens prototype. However, his "scleral" glasses were large, heavy and caused many inconveniences.

Breakthrough and further development

Heinrich Wölck, who suffered from severe farsightedness from childhood, experienced it himself. Looking for best solution he came across a new glass-like man-made material called PMMA, colloquially called plexiglass. Its use made it possible to significantly reduce the diameter of the lenses and increase the wearing time to several hours.

Soft contact lenses made of hydrotel, developed by Otto Wichterle in 1961, turned out to be much more convenient. They kept their shape better, irritated the cornea less and, unlike hard lenses made of plexiglass, let oxygen through. Scientists continued to work intensively on improving the material. Modern contact lenses have high oxygen permeability. There are models of one-day, weekly or monthly wear. There are colored lenses and even lenses with a pattern - but this is certainly only for beauty.

1299 in Italy began to wear glasses.

1971 The first soft contact lenses appeared in Germany and the USA.

1976 Oxygen-permeable hard contact lenses went on sale.

1982 Multifocal lenses help to see well at different distances.

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Useful information about contact lenses - from the history of creation to practical advice

When and how were contact lenses invented?

Let's look into a brief history making contact lenses. The first mention of the very principle of corrective lenses dates back to 1508 and was made in the book The Code of the Eye, written by the great dreamer Leonardo da Vinci, he first touched upon the issue of eye optics.

But it cannot be said that Leonardo da Vinci was the inventor of contact lenses, he just drew attention to the principles of refraction of light entering the eye. In his work, he did not touch upon the issue of vision correction.

The first glasses that refracted light were useless and impossible to wear. For example, in 1632, Res Descartes put a glass tube filled with water over his eyes. One of the drawbacks of his attempt was that the person using the invention could not blink.

The first contact lenses were invented by a German named Fick, who in 1888 made a brown glass shell-shaped scleral contact lens and placed it on the edge of his eye.

The advantage of his invention was that the lens did not affect the sensitive cornea of the eye and could be used for several hours. Fick called his invention contact glasses.

The introduction of plastic

At the very beginning, lenses were made of glass, this continued until the 1930s, before the invention of plastic. The first plastic used in the optical industry was called plexiglas, or PMMA.

A corneal lens is a lens that fits only on the cornea of the eye, this is what we call a contact lens today.

In 1948, Kevin Touhy received the first patent for the manufacture of corneal contact lenses from PMMA plastic. His invention was much more compact than previous lenses and, as its name suggests, only covered the cornea of the eye.

The birth of modern contact lenses

A big step forward was made in 1959, when the Czech chemist Otto Wichterle invented soft water-containing lenses made from HEMA (hydroxyethyl methacrylate) material.

His patent for making soft contact lenses was later sold to Bausch and Lomb and in 1971 the material was improved by the FDA under the trademark Soflens®. This is how modern contact lenses were born.

Breakthrough in the development of contact lenses.

The first toric lenses for astigmatism were introduced in 1978, followed a year later by rigid gas permeable lenses (RGP).