Intraocular Contact Lenses Essay

Meanwhile, research was also going in the development of intraocular contact lenses, which were first surgically implanted lenses, by a London ophthalmologist, H. Ridley, in 1949. The artificial plastic lenses where used to replace the natural lenses damaged due to injury or disease [History of Vision Correction: Contact and Intraocular Lenses, ROBIN L. BLUMBERG SELINGER]. The surgeon came up with the idea of utilising Plexiglass® lens implants based on the experience of doctors treating pilots involved in airplane accidents during World War II. When Plexiglass® debris from shattered airplane canopies were found to be merged in an injured pilot’s eye, it was found that the plastic was well tolerated by the body and in many cases it was found

The ideal is to provide lenses that will provide a comfortable and fair solution.
Table 2 below depicts a summary on the history of contact lenses from conception to development and ultimate improvements.
There are certain factors that need to be considered when designing contact lenses because the lens is continuously in contact with the fluid of the eye. When the contact lens is inside the eye, it is separated by a tear layer from the eye, known as tear film. In the tear film, there is water, proteins, lipids, sodium, calcium, bicarbonate, and enzymes [The eye in contact lens wear- google]. If the contact lens is made up of a hydrophobic material, it will repel water which makes up the majority of the tear film. That will disrupt the tear flow, resulting in the deposition of an albumin film on the lens, which then reduces the effectiveness of contact. That can then cause infections and/or irritations [Contact lens polymer, accessed 31/03], [RCCL – review of cornea and contact lenses- contact lens complications- special issue], [Hydrogel contact lens surface roughness and bacterial adhesion – chapter