A contact lens (also known simply as contacts for a pair) is a corrective, cosmetic, or therapeutic lens usually placed on the cornea of the eye. Leonardo da Vinci is credited with describing and sketching the first ideas for contact lenses in 1508, but it was more than 300 years later before contact lenses were actually fabricated and worn on the eye. Rigid ones were produced and marketed first.Modern soft contact lenses were invented by the Czech chemist Otto Wichterle and his assistant Drahoslav Lim, who also invented the first gel used for their production.Some soft contact lenses are tinted a faint blue to make them more visible when immersed in cleaning and storage solutions. Some cosmetic lenses are deliberately colored to alter the appearance of the eye. Some lenses now have a UV protection surface treatment to reduce UV damage to the eye's natural lens.
While daily disposable lenses require no cleaning, other types require regular cleaning and disinfecting in order to retain clear vision and prevent discomfort and infections by various microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, and Acanthamoeba, that form a biofilm on the lens surface.