The notion of the contact lens has been around for centuries. In fact, the original idea of the contact lens is associated with Leonardo de Vinci. Though the history of the contact lens starts with de Vinci, it would be some time before lenses as we know them were developed. The first actual contact lens, in fact, was a sclera lens that was made of glass and covered the entire eye. However, in the 1940s a contact lens was developed that simply covered the cornea making insertion and removal significantly easier. By the 1950s soft lenses made their way onto the marketplace and the history of the contact lens began to change at a rapid pace. In the next thirty years, soft lenses would catch on with the American population and rigid gas permeable lenses would be introduced.

All of a sudden the contact lens industry began to explode and by the 19080s and 1990s the world was ready for whatever the contact lens companies could manufacture and develop. The introduction of extended wear lenses made up for a large percentage of new contact lens wearers during the 1980s. then, in the 1990s disposables were introduced and wearing contact lenses got a lot easier and a lot cheaper. Include the development of colored contact lenses as well as lenses for astigmatism, bifocals, toric, and the like and you have the amazing history of the contact lens. However, it is not over yet because new technology and new inventions are being introduced regularly.