Space Out : THE MAJESTIC CONTACT LENS

My blog title, SPACE OUT. Does not simply mean its outer space.

Do you ever, just even once wonder about how the things you use everyday were made? I just did, this morning when I spoilt my contact lenses by creasing it. So, I researched on how contact lenses were made. Please keep in mind that I got this from wikipedia and there's a function to allow public to modify the history.

CONTACT LENS

A brief history about contact lens :)

1508 Leonardo da Vinci illustrates the concept of contact lenses

1823 British astronomer Sir John Herschel conceptualizes practical lens design

1887 First contact lens manufactured from glass, and fitted to cover the entire eye

1939 Contact lenses first made from plastic

1948 Plastic contact lenses designed to cover only the eye's cornea

1971 Introduction of soft contact lenses

1978 Introduction of GP contact lenses

1981 FDA approval of new soft contact lenses for extended (overnight) wear

1986 Overnight wear of GP contact lenses becomes available

1987 Introduction of disposable soft contact lenses

1987 GP contacts available in next-generation fluorosilicone acrylate materials

1996 Introduction of one-day disposable soft lenses

2002 Silicone-hydrogel contact lenses first marketed

2002 Overnight orthokeratology approved by FDA

2010 Custom-manufactured silicone-hydrogel lenses become available

By any chance, do you know what you're wearing? Whether its a soft lens or GP lens?

Basically, More than 37 million Americans wear contact lenses, yet many people are unfamiliar with GP contact lenses.

In 2012, GP contact lenses accounted for about 9% of all new contact lens fits and refits in the United States.* GPs are a high-tech, growing alternative to soft contact lenses.

There are three types of contact lens materials:

Hard (PMMA) lenses, the original type of contact lens, now virtually obsolete
GP contact lenses (primarily made from fluorosilicone acrylate, introduced in 1987)
Soft lenses, made from gel-like plastic, first marketed in 1971

GP contact lenses are also known as rigid gas permeables, or RGPs. Your eye doctor may call them GPs or RGPs.

GP contacts are made of a firm, durable plastic that transmits oxygen. They offer excellent eye health: because they don't contain water like soft lenses do, they resist deposits and are less likely than soft contacts to harbor bacteria.

GP contact lenses clean and disinfect easily, don't dehydrate, are easier to handle, and last longer than soft lenses.

And since GP contacts retain their shape better, they provide crisper vision than soft contact lenses.

Why Are GP Lenses So Comfortable?

GP lenses are not the same as the old hard lenses. For one thing, GP lens materials allow oxygen to pass through the lens and reach your cornea. Hard lenses are not oxygen permeable.

ALSO, known as breathable lenses :) These days, people preferred using hydrogel contact lenses which are much more comfortable :D

Secondly, GP contact lenses are custom made for each individual. Your eye care practitioner will measure the exact shape of your cornea and prescribe lenses with the curvature, size, and corrective power that suit your particular eyes.

With advances in manufacturing, GP lenses are made in thinner designs, larger diameters, and with more consistently smooth edges than ever before. As well, more eye care practitioners are using sophisticated techniques to map eye topography, enabling the back surface of the lens to better align with the cornea.

All these changes result in lenses that center well on the eye, providing good comfort and crisp vision.

The Truth About Contact Lens Comfort

People sometimes mistakenly infer that a "soft" lens will be comfortable, but a "rigid" lens will not. In fact, both soft and GP lenses can provide long-term comfort.

However, soft lenses do provide better initial comfort, while GP lenses require a brief adaptation period. But this is due to the size of the lens — not the lens material.

Soft lenses are larger in diameter than GP lenses and "tuck under" the eyelids. As a result, you don't feel the lens edges when you blink. But since GP lenses are smaller, during blinking your eyelids will experience initial "lens awareness."

Your lids gradually adapt so that you don't feel the lens with each blink. Once over that small hurdle, the comfort of soft and GP contacts can be comparable.

Think of it like getting a new pair of shoes. You may "feel" the shoes while you break them in, but if they're the proper fit, that feeling disappears. Shoes don't have to be made of gel to be comfortable, and neither do contact lenses.

THEN, the contact lenses were upgraded and now there's coloured contact lenses. HAHAHA.