Daily Disposable Contact Lenses

Today daily disposable contact lenses are fairly commonplace and are taken for granted by many of us. However, their development and introduction in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was something of a revolution.

This article traces the history of the daily disposable lens and discusses the benefits that these contact lenses offer.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF DAILY DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES

The ‘father’ of daily disposables was undoubtedly Ron Hamilton. This visionary man initially dreamt of creating a contact lens that users could wear for a month and then throw away.

Hamilton left CooperVision and set up a production unit in his garden to test and develop lenses. One evening, while going through various calculations, he discovered that it would actually be possible to make lenses that could be disposed of every day rather than once a month.

Hamilton managed to get the backing of the British Government, who invested in the project and ultimately launched his daily disposable contact lenses in 1993.

The technology behind the daily disposable lenses was bought by Bausch & Lomb three years later. Interestingly, the factory site initially used by Hamilton to produce his daily lenses, is still used by the company to manufacture its soft lens daily contact lenses.

JOHNSON & JOHNSON DAILY LENSES

When it comes to the history of daily disposable contact lenses, great minds really do think alike!

While Ron Hamilton was developing his daily lenses in the UK, another company in another country had a similar idea.

In 1981, Johnson & Johnson bought a small company manufacturing contact lenses in Florida. In so doing, they were able to obtain the rights to a special technology that enabled them to eventually produce daily disposable lenses on a large scale.

Johnson & Johnson 1 Day Acuvue are now amongst the most popular daily disposable contact lenses on the market!

OTHER BRANDS OF DAILY DISPOSABLE LENSES

In 1997, Ciba Vision followed suit by launching its Focus Dailies. By manufacturing these lenses in a particular way they were able to produce daily disposable contact lenses at a price that most people could easily afford.

THE DAILY DISPOSABLE LENS STORY TODAY

The number of people around the world who wear daily disposable contact lenses is rising rapidly. In 1996, 13% of wearers choosing soft lenses opted for daily disposables. By 2004, this figure rose to 40%

THE BENEFITS OF DAILY DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES

Today daily disposable contact lenses may not be seen as revolutionary, but most wearers would agree that they offer an excellent level of comfort and convenience.

Of course certain hygiene and care standards need to be maintained when inserting and removing daily disposable contacts. However, they do not require the same level of care needed by extended wear lenses. For this reason they are often an ideal option for children and part-time wearers.

They are also well suited to travelers who do not have to worry about their lenses becoming damaged.

As well as being easier to look after, daily disposables are also less likely to trigger an eye infection. This is because the act of throwing them away every day means that bacteria is less likely to build up on the surface of the lens and entering the eye.

Possibly these benefits help to explain the findings of recent studies, which suggest that satisfaction levels are higher with daily disposable contact lenses compared to the extended wear alternatives.

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