Varilux progressive lens
Lente progresiva Varilux
- Date
- 1959 · confidence medium
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Bernard Maitenaz (Essel, now Essilor)
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A lens whose power increases continuously from distance to near vision, without the line of bifocals. Maitenaz marketed it as Varilux in 1959.
Owen Aves patented a variable-power lens in 1907 and Duke-Elder had described the idea; Maitenaz designed the first viable commercial progressive lens.
What it led to
- correction of presbyopia without a dividing line
- computer-designed progressive lenses
- general-purpose spectacles for adults