Watch this horrifying video of how contact lenses worked in 1948
It involved making a mould of your eyes!
Can you imagine getting a mould of the inside of your eye? While you are still alive. Poking your eyes with contact lenses is still a squeamish experience for the uninitiated, but in 1948, you had to get a mould of your eyes to get a pair.
The video above shows original footage of Australia’s only contact lens maker Penhryn Thomas at work. A woman with her eyes anaesthetised has some white goo put in them to get the mould. She looks surprisingly calm through it all though.
While today's lenses are soft, their predecessors were hard, and as shown here, came in a case with what looks like a mini plunger so you could made adjustments once the lens was inside your eye!
The procedure, distressing as it looks, was gaining popularity at the time and contact lenses were being worn by film stars, jockeys and athletes, we are told.
