Did you know that you can order contacts right here, right now, over the Internet.  You can, and whether you are an existing patient or not, it is simple, easy to do and can take as little as 5 minutes.

Would you believe that the inventor of the first contact lens was none other than the famous artist, inventor and scientist Leonardo da Vinci?

In 1508 da Vinci sketched and describes several forms of contact lenses.  They were actually manufactured with heavy glass and covered the entire eye making wearing them tolerable for only a few hours at a time.  Fortunately in 1948 a Californian optician named Kevin Touhy began to manufacture the first contact lens made entirely of plastic.  Later that same year an optometrist from Oregon improved these lenses by adding flatter peripheral curves to the lens to match the shape of the cornea more closely and prevent them from popping off so easily.  In the years that followed, major progress was made in the development of contacts.  In 1961 the first “soft” contact lens was made in Czechoslovakia, but not available in the United States until some ten years later when Bausch and Lomb introduced the lenses to America in 1971.   As the lenses grew smaller and thinner more people began to use them and it is said today that 90% of the contact lenses sold in the U.S. are soft ones.  The market for contacts was rapidly developing and in 1978 the first toric soft lens was manufactured for the correction of astigmatism. Soon the first contact lens to be worn overnight was introduced along with soft contacts that could enhance your eye color.  The improvement of contacts continued with the development of daily wear and two-week replacement lenses.  In early 1996 disposable lenses with an ultra-violet light absorber were presented in the U.S.  Extended and continuous wear contacts for up to 30 days were approved by the FDA in October of 2001.

Contact lenses should always be used under the direction and prescription of a licensed optometrist.  Routine eye examinations and following the guidelines for wearing your contacts play an important part in the health of your eyes.  If you have any questions regarding contact lenses, call our office at (239) 936-8686

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Services We Offer      Eye Exams      Glasses      Contacts We Specialize In          Cataract Surgery      Specialty Lenses      Eye Lid Surgery      Botox      Laser Facial Rejuvenation For more information please call 239-936-8836