Archive for February, 2009
February 13th, 2009 by Dan
In Part 1 of this two part series, we looked into the initial creation of contact lenses. In this second part, we’re going to look into what happens after the main contact lens has been created – the finishing, quality control checks and finally the packaging.
Finishing – after the contact lens has been created, either by moulding or lathing, the lens requires more specific curvature to be created for it fit comfortably on the wearer’s eye. As with the polishing part of the lathing process when creating the contact lens, the contact lens is placed upon an arbor where small slices are taken, followed by precise smooth finishing with emery paper.
Quality Control – further to the contact lens being created and finished, each contact lens must pass through a rigorous Quality Control procedure. This is carried out throughout the manufacturing process and once again at the end, by two separate procedures. Firstly, the contact lenses are viewed under a microscope to see any obvious problems. Secondly, a shadowgraph is created of the contact lens, which shows any issues with the contact lenses on a greater scale for easier viewing. Whilst some differences between contact lenses may be not be problematic (mainly for cosmetic contact lenses), if the contact lenses are custom made, it is extremely important that any issue or problem with the contact lens is discovered and amended before it is ready to be sold.
Packaging – before the contact lenses can be delivered to the store or pharmacy, they must be packaged to a certain standard. Generally, contact lenses are first boiled for hours and packaged in sterile material, with a saline solution. Once this process has taken place, the contact lenses are ready to be delivered and worn.
February 12th, 2009 by Dan
The process of manufacturing contact lenses can be split up into four separate areas – moulding or lathing, finishing, quality control and packaging. In Part 1 of this two part series, we’re going to take a look at the moulding and lathing processes.
When contact lenses are being created, there are two initial ways to create the contact lens – the moulding method and the lathing method. Both have their own benefits and both are still used to create contact lenses today.
Moulding – when contact lenses were first being produced by the moulding procedure, they were initially created by pouring a mixture of fluids into a rotating mould. The contact lens shape was created by both the mould itself and by how fast the mould was rotating.
Over the years, injection moulding was introduced, which is a much more reliable and easier means of creating contact lenses by moulding. In essence, the fluids are injected into a pressure mould at a high temperature, quickly removed and allowed to cool, with finishing taking place on a lathe. Extremely effective in creating high quality contact lenses in mass quantities, injection moulding has only been in use in recent years.
Lathing – A longer, but more finished process of creating contact lenses is by using a lathe for the full process. The contact lens material is mounted upon a lathe, which turns at a set speed and angle, allowing for the cutting tool to carry out its work and effectively make the actual contact lens. After the process, the lens is placed upon a separate machine where it is polished and coated to ensure no rough or uneven edges and to give it a safe finish.
February 11th, 2009 by Dan
Closing your eyes and drifting away to a different a place is so easy to do. Whether you’re on the bus or in the bath, flying on a trans-Atlantic flight or simply laid in bed, once you close your eyes you can be taken away to a world millions of miles away, that only you know about.
However, how would you feel if you could close your eyes, just like you would above, but instead of your own little world, you see a live NBA game? Or maybe the latest cinema release? Sounds crazy? Well, it may not be as crazy as you would think.
Future Laboratory Consultancy, a firm that advises companies on the latest technological advances, has compiled a report that in the not so distant future, it will be possible to have a TV screen inside a contact lens.
On the surface, the idea seems light years away. However, when in comparison to the forward steps the TV industry has made over the last 50 years, the next 50 years should bring some amazing feats. For example, it wasn’t until the 1950’s that colour televisions were being built safely and effectively. These televisions were, by today’s standards, unsightly and somewhat unwatchable. This was developed over the coming years and today we have ultra-thin, High Definition TV’s – available in screens that fit onto a digital watch face. If someone in the 1950’s was told that in a few decade’s time, they could be watching television on their watch, in such good quality they’ll think they’re in the programme, they would have bet their world that it’s impossible. Now compare that advance to what we could see by 2060 and the idea of Contact Lens TV seems utterly achievable and realistic.
February 10th, 2009 by Dan
Further to hearing a speech by one of the leaders in the antiseptic industry at the time, Joseph Lister, Robert Johnson discussed the idea with his James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson, his brothers, of creating a variety of dressings for wounds that were ready to use. Whilst this was a leading invention for its time, none of the trio were able to predict the size the company would become and what they would end up producing.
Born in 1845 as Robert Wood Johnson, Johnson was one of eleven siblings. It was in 1861, when he was 16 that Johnson’s long-living career began. Taking an apprenticeship in apothecary, Johnson honed his skills and began to work on antiseptic dressings only a few years later. Working on his antiseptic dressings and sterile equipment over the following decades, by 1878 Johnson (and his then partner George Seabury) were turning over in excess of $10,000 per month – in excess of a quarter of a million dollars per month, in today’s money).
Johnson stopped working with Seabury and began working with his two brothers, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson. Creating and developing the same line of products, the company, Johnson and Johnson, was turning over $25,000 a month in 1888. Already, this was a definite sign of things to follow for the company.
Over the years, the company produced a variety of products – from Band-Aid plasters starting in 1890 to the world’s first daily disposable contact lens almost a century late in the 1980’s. Each and every one of Johnson and Johnson’s product has become a household name or been of a major help to companies worldwide – all thanks to Robert Wood Johnson’s idea of creating a simple yet effective antiseptic dressing.
February 9th, 2009 by Dan
Being the first person to create a wearable contact lens, Adolf Fick is generally credited with the creation of contact lenses. However, if it wasn’t for William Feinbloom’s work in the field, there is a large possibility that contact lenses would still be hard and uncomfortable objects.
Born in 1903 in Brooklyn, New York Feinbloom had a view to becoming an optometrist from an early age, learning his skills from his father. By 1922, Feinbloom graduated from Columbia University and over the coming 17 years, honed his skills and received a PhD in 1939.
Feinbloom is renowned for his work in the field of low vision and the rehabilitation of vision; however it was three years prior to his PhD that Feinbloom’s most notable work was produced. In 1936, Feinbloom developed the world’s very first plastic-based contact lens. Using polymethyl methacrylate – or Perspex, as it is more commonly known – Feinbloom’s discovery was fantastic news for the contact lens world. Taking over from the then traditional glass-blown contact lenses, this development finally allowed for more comfortable and wearable contact lenses to be created. Of course, these developments didn’t produce perfect contact lenses, but they definitely lead the way for the future.
Over the years, Feinbloom gained mass recognition for his work and five years before he died, he was honoured with a Doctorate of Ocular Sciences from Northern Illinois College of Optometry. Passing away in 1985, Feinbloom’s work made gigantic footsteps in the world of contact lenses, giving the world affordable and wearable contact lenses.