Twenty-Five Years of Contact Lenses the Impact on the Cornea and Ophthalmic Practice
Cornea 19(5): 730–740, 2000. © 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc., Philadelphia Twenty-five Years of Contact Lenses The Impact on the Cornea and Ophthalmic Practice Timothy T. McMahon, O.D., and Karla Zadnik, O.D., Ph.D. Purpose. The history of contact lenses has occurred in the latter treatment of ocular disease. Developments in the contact lens field half of the 20th century. In particular, events in the 1970s through have affected health care practitioners within the eye care domain the 1980s related to the invention of soft, hydrogel contact lenses and throughout medicine and dentistry in ways that have signifi- have revolutionized the contact lens industry and the eye care cantly changed the doctor–patient relationship. attached to it. This article recounts that history from the perspec- Understanding the historical importance of the pioneers who tive of market forces, inventions, and discoveries about the physi- developed the concept of the contact lens and the materials used ologic functioning of the cornea. Methods. The relevant literature is critically reviewed. Results. Discoveries about the oxygen needs provides a cornerstone for fully comprehending the impact of a of the cornea and consumer pressure for clear, comfortable, little piece of plastic placed on a cornea. Additionally, we look at around-the-clock vision have resulted in a history of rigid gas the knowledge gained in our understanding of corneal physiology, permeable and soft lenses that leads to today’s contact lens picture. contact lens-associated corneal pathology, new roles for contact The short-term and long-term effects of chronic hypoxia and the lenses in the treatment and management of corneal disease, and levels of lens oxygen transmissiblity necessary to avoid them have finally the impact of contact lenses on the doctor–patient relation- been well-described.
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