True History of Soft Contact Lenses

Abstract

The present article is dedicated to Mrs. L. Wichterlová, who has recently celebrated her 100^th birthday, and, at the same time, to the memory of her late husband, famous Prof. O. Wichterle, the inventor of soft (hydrogel) contact lenses, 20^th anniversary of whose passing will be remembered this year. Since conflicting data on the history of contact lenses can still be found in the literature, the authors resolved to remedy this shortcoming and to bring correct chronology of the invention.