otto studied the synthesis of hydrophilous gels. he wanted to find a perfect material that can be in permanent contact with living tissues. his colleague  helped him and together they prepared a gel. this gel absorbed up to 40% of water and was transparent. this new material is the poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate). they patented it in 1953. wichterle thought that it might be a good material for contact lenses and gained his first patent for soft contact lenses. in 1957 wichterle produced around 100 soft lenses. the problem was that the edges tore when the lens was getting removed. he wanted to find a better way to make them. unfortunately, he was forced to leave the because of its communist leadership in 1958. so the research at the institute came to an end, but he did the important experiments to transform into a good shape of a contact lens by himself at home.