Contacts are a very popular option for people with less than perfect vision. They are an ever-increasingly popular accessory for people of all ages that have a phobia of eyeglasses or dislike of heavy frames. Athletes are especially biased towards contact lenses simply because they cannot wear glasses without the eyeglass frames slipping off of their noses. Here are a few interesting facts about those small ocular devices that we may take for granted.
Contact lenses were originally envisioned in 1508 by Leonardo Da Vinci. This famous inventor ascertained that the corneal power of the eye changed by submerging the eyes in a bowl of water. Although it was not practical, it paved the way for more research as tools became more precise several hundred years later.
Tears carry oxygen to the cornea! Early rigid contacts did not originally allow air to bypass through the glass to the corneal membrane and were therefore dependent on this method alone. Because of this, oxygen would be very limited to the cornea should the wearer keep them on at night. Wearing the early rigid contacts at night would eventually deprive the eyes of oxygen and and would lead to possible eye infection.
Your Optometrist requires you to give you your contact lens prescription. Although this may seem obvious, and applies also to your glasses, many Optometrists may not want to give out the information haphazardly as many patients will take that information and buy their own contacts online. Many people will then forgo seeing their Doctor because of this. Do not take this information for granted. Always visit your Optometrist regularly for the sake of your health!