Ocular Sciences, Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, and distribution of contact lenses. It markets its products directly to eye care practitioners. The company was incorporated as O.S.I. Corporation 1985 and changed its name to Ocular Sciences, Inc. in 1997. The company is headquartered in Concord, California. Ocular Sciences, Inc. was acquired by Cooper Companies, Inc. in November 2004.

ACUVUE was the first-ever brand of disposable contact lenses. They are made by VISTAKON, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. 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 in the manufacturing of contact lenses since its opening in 1996. Although successful within the past years, VISTAKON has had major competition with Bausch & Lomb and with CIBA Vision, a subsidiary of major pharmaceutical company Novartis.

CIBA VISION, a Novartis company, is a company that researches, develops, and manufactures contact lenses and lens care products. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) in the Johns Creek Technology Park. Manufacturing plants are also located in Germany, Singapore, Batam and Johor.

CIBA VISION research & development (R&D) efforts have produced lenses such as O₂OPTIX (also known as AIR OPTIX), high-oxygen, breathable lenses; NIGHT & DAY (also known as AIR OPTIX NIGHT & DAY), high-oxygen extended wear lenses that can be worn for up to 30 continuous nights; and Focus DAILIES, daily disposable contact lenses. Additionally, CIBA VISION is an international provider of color contact lenses to change and enhance eye color. In lens care, CIBA VISION manufactures many products, such as AQuify Multi-Purpose Solution (also known as SOLOCARE AQUA) and Clear Care (also known as AOSEPT PLUS).

Bausch & Lomb is an American company based in Rochester, New York, is one of the world's leading suppliers of eye health products, such as contact lenses and lens care products today. In addition to this main activity, in recent years the area of medical technology (medicines, implants for eye diseases) has been developed. Bausch & Lomb became well known because of its famous Ray-Ban brand of sunglasses, which was sold in 1999 to the Italian Luxottica Group. Today, the company employs about 13,000 people in 36 countries. The company was founded in 1853 by two Germans, John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb.