A Huge Discovery? 一個重大的發(fā)現(xiàn)

因為這些原因，那時世界上只有不到500人佩戴了這種隱形眼鏡，其中包括了Efron。此外在高空運作的情況下，佩戴了隱形眼鏡的眼球最長只能忍受4小時。直到1948年，美國視光師凱文·托赫（Kevin Tuohy）偶然中發(fā)現(xiàn)鏡片其實不必覆蓋整個眼白，這樣的話鏡片的穿戴時間又能額外延長幾個小時。隨后托赫拋棄了原來的玻璃鏡片，轉而使用一種透明的塑料，并且他將鏡片的邊緣拋光，這使得鏡片更加瘦小。令他驚奇的是，這種改良的鏡片即使是在眨眼之后也能保留在原來的位置。

For these reasons, very few people—maybe 500 in the world, estimates Efron—wore early models. It wasn't until 1948, when optical technician Kevin Tuohy realized by accident that contacts didn't have to cover the whites of the eyes at all, that wearers were allowed some extra hours. While Tuohy was lathing the lens, a recently invented transparent plastic, the part supposed to cover the whites of the eyes dropped off. This left him thinking, Is there a way the smaller lens could actually work? So he polished down the disk's edges and tried the slimmer model himself. To his surprise, it actually stayed put—even after blinking.

The discovery was huge. "It changed the whole history of contact lenses," says Efron. But it was not without problems. First iterations were abrasive to the sensitive cornea, which was obviously not good. The new shape also had a bit of a lift at the edge, which meant lenses popped out at every available opportunity.

以上圖片摘自torontocontactlenses。