Improvment-Soft Contacts  改进：软性隐形眼镜的发明

延长隐形眼镜的佩戴时间同样也是人们需要解决的一大难题。直到软镜的问世，这一问题才得到了解决。 1963年，捷克斯洛伐克高分子化学家Otto Wichterle研制了新型材料，同时开发了这种材料制成的软性隐形眼镜。这种材料很适合眼球内的湿度，与普通硬镜相比，这种素材柔软、异物感少、濡润性好，有一定透气性能。1971年，博士伦公司软镜的专利技术获得美国FDA自由销售的许可，软镜因为其舒适，易适应，深受配戴者的欢迎，从而迅即取代了硬镜。隐形眼镜发生了历史性的更新换代。

Although more hours meant a broader appeal, it took 25 more years and several advancements in materials for contacts to break big.

It was the soft contact lens that did it, and Otto Wichterle was the unlikely inventor. Despite promising results from early experiments with hydroxyethyl methacrylate, a monomer suited to the moisture of the eye, Wichterle was told to stop the project by his employer—at the time Czechoslovakia's Institute of Macromolecular Research. In a quiet act of defiance, Wichterle took his experiments home, forgoing lab equipment for a child's mechanical kit. With the kit he was able develop a spin casting technique that made soft contacts viable. His patent was picked up by Bausch & Lomb, and in 1972 the moveable-and breathable!—lenses hit the market.

Today, 30% of all contacts worldwide are soft daily disposables, and glass ones are non-existent. Next time you pop in your lenses, give a little silent thank you the material is soft and your eyes are in tact. That's more than the bunnies can say about their experience.

以上图片摘自laser-eye-surgery-review。