Alcon is an eye care company founded in 1945 in Fort Worth, Texas, by pharmacists Robert Alexander and William Conner, who named it after the first letters of their surnames. Originally a small pharmacy focused on sterile ophthalmic products, it grew into one of the largest eye care device companies in the world. Alcon was owned by Nestle for decades, then acquired by Novartis, and became an independent, publicly traded company again in 2019 following a spin-off; its corporate headquarters is now in Geneva, Switzerland, with major operations remaining in Fort Worth. The business is organized into two segments. Surgical covers equipment, instruments, and implantables for cataract, retinal, and refractive procedures, including the AcrySof and PanOptix intraocular lenses and the Centurion phacoemulsification system. Vision Care covers contact lenses and ocular health products, with lens families such as Dailies Total1, Precision1, Total30, and Air Optix, plus the Systane line of lubricating eye drops and Opti-Free lens care solutions. Alcon reports annual sales above nine billion US dollars, employs roughly 25,000 people, and sells its products in over 140 countries. The company invests heavily in ophthalmic R&D and training centers for eye surgeons, and it competes with Johnson & Johnson Vision, Bausch + Lomb, and CooperVision across both the surgical and contact lens markets.
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