The American Committee on Optics and Visual Physiology1 has been interested in the contact lens problem for some time and authorized the investigation which is the basis for this report. This committee is composed of ophthalmologists from the Section on Ophthalmology of the American Medical Association, the American Ophthalmological Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, and the Association for Research in Ophthalmology.
Contact lenses were first suggested by Sir John F. W. Herschel, a British astronomer, in 1827. However, it was not until the latter part of the nineteenth century that wearable lenses were made chiefly by the Zeiss Optical Company in Jena, Germany. These lenses were used primarily for pathologic conditions which could not be corrected by spectacles.
During the last few years considerable progress in the manufacturing and fitting of contact lenses has taken place in the United States. Not only are contact lenses now