“looks like a poké ball lol”
Does the Visonic Dome look familiar? The round shape. The central button. Its design seems more than a little similar to a Poké Ball for many people. Unsurprisingly, it’s the most common comment I get about my father’s ultrasonic contact lens cleaner.
From Reddit to Instagram to random encounters in the tall grass, everyone wants to know…
Is the Visonic Dome really a Poké Ball?
Which came first? The ultrasonic contact lens cleaner or the pocket monster catcher?
Read on to find out!
The history of two (very similar) designs
The Visonic Dome story begins in Germany in the late 1970s. That’s when my father designed the world’s first ultrasonic contact lens cleaner. At the time, it was shaped like a cigarette box – not at all like a Poké Ball. And he called his invention “LenSoClean.“
In the early 1980s, he brought that early design to the Silicon Valley in California where he got the support of CooperVision (one of America’s biggest eye care companies) to develop his idea into a product.
It’s during that time that my dad and his team redesigned LenSoClean from a box into the spherical form that we recognize today.
By 1989, Visonic Dome was born.
It made its grand debut that fall at Vision Expo, East, in New York City. The FDA gave it clearance for sale in the USA less than a year later.
The original Visonic Dome prototype was already a minimalist design. But by the time of first production, my dad whittled this form down even further. 
Visonic Dome was inspired by the form of the human eye. Which makes sense, since its purpose is to clean contacts and protect your eye health.
Over the course of several iterations and design refinements, it evolved. It lost a few legs. It gained a single button and a central, yellow ring. By 1991, my dad successfully reduced his Visonic Dome design to minimal perfection. And then he promptly renamed it (again!) back to LenSoClean (again!).
That’s the design I’m recreating as a limited edition on Kickstarter today.
[Sign up to for the email notification to save -50% off on launch day by clicking here right now.]
No later than 1992, he was shaking hands and signing deals, working with distribution partners from around the world.
And his first big international agreement?
That was with a trading company called Morimura Bros.
Headquartered in…
Tokyo, Japan.
Who’s that copycat?!
Plot twist!
Could the internet experts have the story backwards?
Is it possible that the Poké Ball is actually a Visonic Dome – and not the other way around?
Let’s dive into the history of the Poké Ball to see what’s up.
Pokémon is the invention of Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori. In 1989, they shut down their ‘Game Freak’ video game magazine and started a new game development company with the same name.
Hmm!
1989 – the year that Visonic Dome debuted in NYC!
COINCIDENCE?!
Yeah, almost definitely. But still kind of cool trivia.
“I think it’s safe to say that it’s very comfortable inside inside of a Poké Ball, it’s a very comfortable environment,” Masuda laughed. “Maybe the equivalent of a high-end suite room in a fancy hotel.” 
The pair pitched their Game Boy video game concept to Nintendo a year later in 1990. At the time, they called it “Capsule Monsters.”
Capsule Monsters was inspired by a type of vending machine that’s popular in Japan called “gashapon.” These vending machines give out random, collectible toys inside of plastic capsules.
The gashapon capsule is what eventually became the iconic Poké Ball design.
“You know those vending machines that sit in front of candy stores and toy shops selling capsule toys called ‘gashapon,’ right? I guess I could describe the game as being similar to the excitement you get from collecting those capsules.”
– Satoshi Tajiri as translated by Glitterberri.com
At the meeting with Nintendo, Tajiri and Sugimori presented a series of sketches that showed off their concept. And it’s in these sketches that we get our first look at their earliest Poké Ball design.
Even from the earliest concept art, you can see the defining features of the Poké Ball: the dual-tone top and bottom, a single button, and a Pokémon inside. The only thing Game Freak changed was the button location and the opening mechanism.
By 1996, the game was a hit in Japan. A trading card game, manga, and anime series followed.
And it’s been going strong ever since.
Gotta clean ’em all!
…Not an Ultrasonic Ball…
No? OK.
With millions of Pokémon fans worldwide, it’s no wonder that Visonic Dome gets compared to the Poké Ball so often.
After all, how can two designs, created at almost the exact same moment, half a world apart, possibly be so similar?
When you compare them side by side, the similarity really is striking. Which is kind of nuts, once you know that their designs were inspired by such different things. Vending machine capsules on the one hand, and the human eye on the other.
But consider this: if you want to design a ball that has a single button – whether it’s to clean contact lenses or to catch Pokemon – this is the best possible result.
So the answer, I think, is more than just coincidence. Instead, it’s a testament to how good both of these designs really are.
Proportions can only be so perfect.
