CONTACT LENS HISTORY

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A CHRONOLOGY OF DISPOSABLE LENSES

[ A Glossary of technical terms ]

From Bottles to Blisters - a history of disposable lenses in the UK

1982 Danalens, the first disposable contact lens is launched in Denmark.

Danalens - the first soft disposable contact lens.
1988

Acuvue lenses are launched in the UK by Johnson & Johnson for both daily wear (fortnightly replacement) and extended wear (weekly replacement).

Acuvue 2 weekly disposable contact lenses - original packaging.
1989 SeeQuence lenses are produced by Bausch & Lomb with a design based on their ultrathin U4 Series.  Lenses are packaged for either weekly or monthly replacement.  The earliest lenses have powers indicated with a letter code: later packaging states the numerical prescription.

Seequence monthly disposable soft lenses from Bausch & Lomb.
1989 Pilkington introduce the Calender lens for monthly replacement.  It is based on the 78% water content Permaflex.  This is superseded by the Precision UV, based on the same lens design, with the first introduction of an ultraviolet filter.

Calender monthly disposable lenses from Pilkington.
1995 Daily disposable lenses are made available by Award, a Scottish company.  This is subsequently bought by Bausch & Lomb and relaunched as the Soflens One Day.

Award daily disposable soft lenses.
1996  

Johnson & Johnson introduce 1 Day Acuvue daily disposables.  They initially have a 9.00 mm fitting which is supplemented by 8.50 mm lenses in 1997.

 

Acuvue 1 Day lenses from Johnson & Johnson.
1997  

CibaVision launch their Focus Dailies.

 

Focus Dailies from CibaVision.
1998 Bausch & Lomb introduce the first monthly disposable multifocal, Occasions.

Occasions bifocals from Bausch & Lomb.
1999 CibaVision introduce the Focus toric for monthly replacement.

Focus toric monthly disposable soft lenses.
1999 Wesley-Jessen introduce the Freshlook toric for monthly replacement.

Freshlook toric monthy disposable soft lenses from Wesley-Jessen.
1999 Silicone hydrogels are introduced as Purevision by Bausch & Lomb and Night & Day by CibaVision Purevision silicone hydrogel lenses from Bausch & Lomb.

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