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Acuvue was the first-ever^{[citation needed]} brand of disposable contact lenses. They are made by Vistakon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

[edit] Overview

Acuvue lenses got their start at Frontier Contact Lens Company, a small company that started in the 1950s and opened a branch in Jacksonville. Headed by Seymour Marco, an optometrist, the company started to grow and after a few years, Marco bought out the New York owners so he could significantly grow the business.

During the 1970s, he developed a new material (etafilcon A) and began making soft lenses at Frontier. In 1981 he sold the company to Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson renamed Frontier Contact Lenses to Vistakon. With the acquisition of a very manual process - every employee on the production line, whether they were lathing, polishing or inspecting, handled the lenses - scaling up the business was very limited, so Vistakon decided to invest into a new production process.

Utilizing Stabilized Soft Molding (SSM) technology, Vistakon undertook a major overhaul in its production processes. As a result Acuvue was introduced to the market in 1986. The lens was originally indicated for seven-day extended wear and later became a daily wear lens. Today, there is a line which ranges from the 1-day wear to two-week lenses such as the Acuvue 2 and Oasys.

Today, all of Vistakon's manufacturing facilities are located in the United States, with the exception of one plant located in Limerick, Republic of Ireland. This plant located in Limerick is one of the most advanced^{[citation needed]} in the manufacturing of contact lenses since its opening in 1996. Although successful within the past years,^{[citation needed]} Vistakon has had major competition^{[citation needed]} with Bausch & Lomb and with Ciba Vision, a subsidiary of major pharmaceutical company Novartis.

[edit] External links

• Acuvue.com (official website)
• JnJVisioncare.com (product guide) - for eye care professionals
• Acuvue-Now.com (consumer information) - additional information including product reviews

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