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After nearly two years of meetings and much heart searching about loss of identity, the BCLA came into existence on January 1, 1977. The new organisation was formed from The Contact Lens Society (CLS), the Association of Contact lens Practitioners (ACLP) and the Association of Dispensing Opticians Contact Lens Study Group (ADOCLSG) with the support of the Medical Contact Lens Association (MCLA).
The CLS was the oldest and largest of the three groups and was itself a collaboration between ophthalmology and optometry. It was founded in 1947 when contact lenses had been fitted in the UK for only about 20 years. Historically, most lens fitting was carried out by dispensing opticians under the supervision or direction of ophthalmologists, with the involvement of optometrists starting only in the mid-1930s. The ACLP was founded in 1949 by optometrists to look after their specific professional interests. Full members were entitled to use the suffix FACLP following examination or the submission of 50 case histories.
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