Editing Contact lens (section)

===Origins and first functional prototypes===
[[File:Da Vinci's method of corneal neutralization.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Illustration of a large lens covering a man's face|Artist's impression of [[Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo's]] method for neutralizing the refractive power of the cornea]]

[[Leonardo da Vinci]] is frequently credited with introducing the idea of contact lenses in his 1508 ''Codex of the eye, Manual D'',<ref name="Heitz" /> wherein he described a method of directly altering [[cornea]]l power by either submerging the head in a bowl of water or wearing a water-filled glass hemisphere over the eye. Neither idea was practically implementable in da Vinci's time.<ref name="Schifrin" />{{rp|9}} He did not suggest his idea be used for correcting vision; he was more interested in exploring mechanisms of [[accommodation (eye)|accommodation]].<ref name="Heitz">Heitz, RF and Enoch, J. M. (1987) "Leonardo da Vinci: An assessment on his discourses on image formation in the eye." ''Advances in Diagnostic Visual Optics'' 19—26, Springer-Verlag.</ref>

[[René Descartes|Descartes]] proposed a device for correcting vision consisting of a liquid-filled glass tube capped with a [[lens]]. However, the idea was impracticable, since the device was to be placed in direct contact with the cornea and thus would have made [[blinking]] impossible.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Moreddu |first=Rosalia |last2=Vigolo |first2=Daniele |last3=Yetisen |first3=Ali K. |date=August 2019 |title=Contact Lens Technology: From Fundamentals to Applications |url=http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/68302144/Contact_Lens_Technology_From_Fundamentals_to_Applications_1_.pdf |journal=Advanced Healthcare Materials |volume=8 |issue=15 |pages=1900368 |doi=10.1002/adhm.201900368 |pmid=31183972 |s2cid=184488183}}</ref>

In 1801, [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]] fashioned a pair of basic contact lenses based on Descartes' model. He used wax to affix water-filled lenses to his eyes, neutralizing their [[refractive power]], which he corrected with another pair of lenses.<ref name="Schifrin">{{Cite book |last=Leonard G. Schifrin |title=The Contact Lens Industry: Structure, Competition, and Public Policy |last2=William J. Rich |date=December 1984 |publisher=United States [[Office of Technology Assessment]]}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

[[John Herschel]], in a footnote to the 1845 edition of the ''[[Encyclopedia Metropolitana]]'', posed two ideas for the visual correction: the first "a spherical capsule of glass filled with [[gelatin|animal jelly]]",<ref name="SinhaDada2017">{{Cite book |last=Rajesh Sinha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ax8LDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Textbook of Contact Lenses |last2=Vijay Kumar Dada |date=31 January 2017 |publisher=JP Medical Ltd |isbn=978-93-86150-44-8 |pages=2–}}</ref> the second "a mould of the cornea" that could be impressed on "some sort of transparent medium".<ref>[http://www.eyetopics.com/articles/18/1/The-History-of-Contact-Lenses "The History of Contact Lenses."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011022433/http://www.eyetopics.com/articles/18/1/The-History-of-Contact-Lenses |date=11 October 2008 }} eyeTopics.com. Accessed 18 October 2006.</ref> Though Herschel reportedly never tested these ideas, they were later advanced by independent inventors, including Hungarian physician Joseph Dallos, who perfected a method of making molds from living eyes.<ref name="mastereyeassoc">{{Cite web |title=History of Contact Lenses and Improved Technology |url=https://www.mastereyeassociates.com/contact-lens-history |access-date=14 September 2019 |website=Master Eye Associates |ref=mastereyeassoc}}</ref> This enabled the manufacture of lenses that, for the first time, conformed to the actual shape of the eye.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia |year=2005 |isbn=0471743984 |chapter=Contact Lenses |doi=10.1002/0471743984.vse2040}}</ref>

[[File:Adolf Fick-adjust.png|thumb|upright|In 1888, [[Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick]] was the first to successfully fit contact lenses, which were made from blown glass]]

Although [[Louis J. Girard]] invented a [[scleral contact lens]] in 1887,<ref name="Timetables">{{The Timetables of Science|pages=367}}</ref> it was German ophthalmologist [[Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick]] who in 1888 fabricated the first successful [[Afocal system|afocal]] scleral contact lens.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Adolf Eugen Fick (1852–1937) |url=http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/adolfeugenfick.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517070106/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/adolfeugenfick.aspx |archive-date=17 May 2015 |access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref> Approximately {{convert|18–21|mm|abbr=on}} in diameter, the heavy [[Glassblowing|blown-glass]] shells rested on the less sensitive rim of tissue surrounding the cornea and floated on a [[dextrose]] solution. He experimented with fitting the lenses initially on rabbits, then on himself, and lastly on a small group of volunteers, publishing his work, ''"Contactbrille"'', in the March 1888 edition of ''Archiv für Augenheilkunde''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heitz |first=R |date=September 2014 |title=The invention of the contact lenses (1888) |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1755-3768.2014.3773.x |journal=Acta Ophthalmologica |language=en |volume=92 |issue=s253 |pages=0 |doi=10.1111/j.1755-3768.2014.3773.x |issn=1755-375X}}</ref> Large and unwieldy, Fick's lens could be worn only for a couple of hours at a time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinha |first=Rajesh |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/962009998 |title=Textbook of contact lenses |last2=Dada |first2=Vijay Kumar |date=2017 |publisher=Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd |isbn=978-93-86150-44-8 |edition=Fifth |location=New Delhi ; Philadelphia |oclc=962009998}}</ref> [[August Müller (inventor)|August Müller]] of [[Kiel]], Germany, corrected his own severe [[myopia]] with a more convenient blown-glass scleral contact lens of his own manufacture in 1888.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pearson |first=Richard M. |last2=Efron |first2=Nathan |date=September 1989 |title=Hundredth anniversary of August Müller's inaugural dissertation on contact lenses |journal=Survey of Ophthalmology |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=133–141 |doi=10.1016/0039-6257(89)90041-6 |pmid=2686057}}</ref>

The development of [[polymethyl methacrylate]] (PMMA) in the 1930s paved the way for the manufacture of plastic scleral lenses. In 1936, optometrist [[William Feinbloom]] introduced a hybrid lens composed of glass and plastic,<ref>Robert B. Mandell. ''Contact Lens Practice'', 4th Edition. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL, 1988</ref> and in 1937 it was reported that some 3,000 Americans were already wearing contact lenses.<ref>"Contact Lens for Eyes Now Common; It is Used as Substitute for Spectacles." Nashua (IA) Reporter, 28 April 1937.</ref> In 1939, Hungarian ophthalmologist Dr.István Györffy produced the first fully plastic contact lens.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gyorgy |first=Salacz |date=January 2001 |title=Dr István Györffy, 1912–1999 |journal=Contact Lens and Anterior Eye |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=180–182 |doi=10.1016/S1367-0484(01)80040-0}}</ref> The following year, German optometrist [[Heinrich Wöhlk]] produced his own version of plastic lenses based on experiments performed during the 1930s.<ref>Contact Lens History: How Contact Lenses Have Developed Through the Years. EyeHealth Central. Retrieved from https://www.contactlenses.co.uk/education/history.htm</ref>