Czech chemist Otto Wichterle made a huge breakthrough in making the first hydrogel lenses. Together with his colleague Drahoslav Lim, they created a material that absorbed up to 40% water, which was also transparent and could be moulded into a comfortable lens shape. Fun fact: using his son's toy construction kit, Wichterle produced the first four hydrogel lenses.

As production technology became more advanced, contact lenses became thinner and thinner. In the early 1970s, Bausch & Lomb released the first commercial soft contact lenses made of hydrogel lenses. Later, multifocal lenses and toric lenses for presbyopia and astigmatism came on the market.

Daily contact lenses were introduced in the 1980s, which changed the way people viewed contact lenses. Dailies became more convenient and hygienic to use. Spectacle wearers who would not normally wear lenses could now wear lenses for special occasions or during sports.

During the 1980s, there was also progress in the materials used for contact lenses. For example, extended-wear lenses came to the market. Contact lenses had become so light, with high water content and very oxygen permeable, that under the guidance of an optician, they could even be worn at night while sleeping.

A brief history of contact lenses