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Contact Lenses are a soft, virtually invisible lens placed on the cornea of the eye to correct vision problems in place of glasses. They can also be purely cosmetic to change the color of the eye rather than to correct vision problems. Many brands are tinted a slight blue to make them more visible to the user when they are in cleaning and storage solutions. Modern Contact Lenses also have a faint bluish tint which is a thin UV coating to reduce glare and damage to the cornea caused by the sun.

Leonardo Da Vinci is credited with first introducing the idea of Contact Lenses in 1508, however it was not until 1887 that F.E. Muller, a German glassblower, produced the first eye covering that was able to be seen through and tolerated successfully. The same year Louis Gerard invented a scleral form of Contact Lenses. Glass blown scleral lenses remained the only Contact Lenses until the 1930’s when PMMA (known as perspex or plexiglass) was used to manufacture the first plastic scleral lenses.

In 1936 a combination lens of glass and plastic was introduced by Optometrist William Feinbloom which was lighter and more convenient still. Then in 1949, the first corneal lenses were developed. These were much smaller and could be worn for up to sixteen hours per day. The problem with these Contact Lenses was that they did not allow any oxygen through to the eye ball, which caused side-effects. By the end of the 1970s, a range of oxygen permeable but rigid materials were developed to overcome this problem. Collectively these are referred to as "rigid gas permeable" or "RGP" materials or lenses.

 
Modern soft contact lenses were invented by the Czech chemist Otto Wichterle and his assistant Drahoslav Lim in 1959. They also invented the first gel used for the production of Contact Lenses which led to the first soft hydrogel lenses being approved for use in the US in 1971. In 1999 the next breakthrough came with silicone hydrogels. The advantage of these is that silicone is very oxygen permeable whilst being as comfortable and effective as soft hydrogel lenses.

It has been estimated that 125 million people use contact lenses worldwide. 28 to 38 million of these people are in the United States alone. There are different types of lenses available via prescription, including bifocal contact lenses and colored lenses. People usually choose Contact Lenses over glasses as they allow more flexibility and convenience. Contact Lenses are less affected by the weather, steam and sporting activities. They also offer a wider field of vision and a more natural appearance.