Editing Bausch & Lomb (section)

===After 1945===
At a time when the cinema was being superseded by television, Bausch & Lomb developed improved optics for the [[CinemaScope]] process, which popularized the film-based [[anamorphic format]] and led most cinemas to double the widths of their screens.

In 1965 Bausch & Lomb acquired the patent for the hydrogel contact lenses created by Czech scientists [[Otto Wichterle]] and [[Drahoslav Lím]]. In 1971, after three years of development work, two years for the medical approval by the United States [[Food and Drug Administration]] and an investment of three million USD, Bausch + Lomb launched [[contact lens]]es made of [[Polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate|Poly-HEMA]]. In contrast to the contact lenses previously available, made of glass and Lucite ([[acrylic glass]]),<ref>[http://www.luciteinternational.com/ Lucite International]. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.</ref> the new lenses were softer. They were marketed under the brand name "Soflens".

In the 1970s, the company was a major producer of [[spectrophotometry|spectrophotometers]] for the dye and chemical business, such as the [[Spectronic 20]].

A massive restructuring of the company began in the mid-1980s. What had been the core divisions, the production of lenses for various purposes, were sold off. The sunglasses division was continued as [[Ray-Ban]] and kept selling well due to effective [[product placement]]. By the planned acquisition of other firms, such as Polymer Technology Corporation and Dr. Mann Pharma, existing business areas such as contact lens production were strengthened and new ones were initiated.

In 1997, as a result of a series of company acquisitions, the division for the manufacture of surgical products was established. The [[Ray-Ban]] brand was sold in 1999 to the Italian [[Luxottica]] Group.