From contact lens to 'Dream Lens' - Cultural History of Vision Correction Technology.

Abstract

This paper traces how medical technologies to correct vision were introduced and changed in Korean society until the introduction of Orthokeratology called 'Dream Lens' in the late 1990s. First of all, I outlines the historical background of the introduction and spread of the relatively unfamiliar and expensive Orthokeratology, which is said to "cure" myopia and astigmatism by pressing the cornea. 'Dream Lens', a 'lens for correcting corneal refractive error', was a popular vision correction technology in terms of its name, treatment method, and effect. Not only was it introduced with a name similar to contact lens used instead of glasses from decades ago, but the way it was attached to and removed from the cornea was also similar. On the other hand, the public was already familiar with the principle of correcting the refractive index by pressing the cornea and improving visual acuity in the long term, just like LASIK which became popular in the mid-1990s. The use of contact lens which was similar in terms of the name 'lens' and the effect of 'correcting vision', and the trend of LASIK which was similar in principle of controlling corneal refraction, was a historical stage that helped soft landing of orthokeratology. However, from contact lens, vision correction technology did not settle down without any conflict. There was a conflict between medical experts traditionally responsible for optometry and production of spectacles and lens, and opticians who were newly in charge of that area. Ophthalmologists who have been in charge of optometry and prescriptions for a long time had no choice but to hand over some of the inspection areas to opticians due to the rapidly increasing number of opticians and the implementation of the optician system in 1989. And they had no choice but to watch the expansion of the business of opticians who manufactured glasses based on their own vision tests and sold them together with contact lens. Instead, corneal resection, which is not a technique for correcting visual acuity due to corneal refractive error, but a surgical technique for treating the corneal refractive error itself, has become an ophthalmologist's unique task. In addition, Dream Lens, which corrects corneal refractive error using a similar principle, has also become an object of professional medical practice because it required more precise examination and treatment than eyeglasses or contact lenses. By understanding the process by which vision correction technologies, from contact lens to dream lens, have been introduced into Korean society over the past few decades, this paper gives a new understanding how different medical technologies with the same or similar purposes are settling down, and the tension between experts in charge of them.