Contact lenses

A contact lens, or simply contact, is a thin lens placed directly on the surface of the eye. Contact lenses are considered medical devices and can be worn to correct vision, or for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons. In 2004, it was estimated that 125 million people (2%) use contact lenses worldwide, including 28 to 38 million in the United States. In 2010, worldwide market for contact lenses was estimated at $6.1 billion, while the US soft lens market was estimated at $2.1 billion. Multiple analysts estimated that the global market for contact lenses would reach $11.7 billion by 2015. As of 2010^[update], the average age of contact lens wearers globally was 31 years old, and two-thirds of wearers were female.

People choose to wear contact lenses for many reasons. Aesthetics and cosmetics are the main motivating factors for people who want to avoid wearing glasses or to change the appearance of their eyes. Others wear contact lenses for functional or optical reasons. When compared with spectacles, contact lenses typically provide better peripheral vision, and do not collect moisture (from rain, snow, condensation etc.) or perspiration; this makes them ideal for sports and other outdoor activities. Contact lens wearers can also wear sunglasses, goggles, or other eyewear of their choice without having to fit them with prescription lenses or worry about compatibility with glasses. Additionally, there are conditions such as and aniseikonia that are typically corrected better with contact lenses than with glasses.

The size of the contact lens market is likely to grow due to the increasing occurrence of eye related conditions such as astigmatism, hypermetropia and myopia. The other drivers are increasing population and the desire to make fashion statements, and technological advancement. By the end of 2020, the value of the contact lens market is predicted to reach $13.5 billion.

Leonardo da Vinci is frequently credited with introducing the idea of contact lenses in his 1508 Codex of the eye, Manual D, where in he described a method of directly altering corneal power by either submerging the head in a bowl of water or wearing a water-filled glass hemisphere over the eye. Neither idea was practically implementable in da Vinci's time. He did not suggest his idea be used for correcting vision, as he was more interested in learning about the mechanisms of accommodation of the eye.

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