Editing Contact lens (section)

===Corneal and rigid lenses (1949–1960s)===

In 1949, the first "corneal" lenses were developed.<ref>U.S. Patent No. [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2510438 2,510,438], filed 28 February 1948.</ref><ref>"The Corneal Lens", ''The Optician'', 2 September 1949, pp. 141–144.</ref><ref>"Corneal Contact Lenses", ''The Optician'', 9 September 1949, p. 185.</ref><ref>"New Contact Lens Fits Pupil Only", ''[[The New York Times]]'', 11 February 1952, p. 27.</ref> These were much smaller than the original scleral lenses, as they sat only on the cornea rather than across all of the visible ocular surface and could be worn up to 16 hours a day. PMMA corneal lenses became the first contact lenses to have mass appeal through the 1960s, as lens designs became more sophisticated with improving manufacturing technology.<ref>{{Citation |last=Pal |first=Subrata |title=The Eye and Its Artificial Replacement |date=2014 |work=Design of Artificial Human Joints & Organs |pages=219–249 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4614-6255-2_14 |access-date=2024-08-29 |place=Boston, MA |publisher=Springer US |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-6255-2_14 |isbn=978-1-4614-6254-5}}</ref>  On October 18, 1964, in a television studio in Washington, D.C., [[Lyndon Baines Johnson]] became the first President in the history of the United States to appear in public wearing contact lenses, under the supervision of Dr. Alan Isen, who developed the first commercially viable soft-contact lenses in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosenthal |first=J. William |title=Spectacles and Other Vision Aids: A History and Guide to Collecting |date=1996 |publisher=Norman Publishing |isbn=978-0930405717 |page=379}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=William D. |date=18 April 1971 |title=Soft-Lens Clamor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/18/archives/softlens-clamor-tiny-piece-of-plastic-attracts-wall-street-interest.html |access-date=29 November 2018 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 6, 1964 |title=nytimes archive |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/06/archives/but-they-make-marriage-contracts-with-girls-who-wear-contacts.html |access-date=2018-08-24 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

Early corneal lenses of the 1950s and 1960s were relatively expensive and fragile, resulting in the development of a market for contact lens insurance. Replacement Lens Insurance, Inc. (now known as [[RLI Corp.]]) phased out its original flagship product in 1994 after contact lenses became more affordable and easier to replace.{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}}