Better vision may soon be only a wink away, as Swiss researchers have unveiled telescopic contact lenses with a built-in zoom that is activated by winking.
Using a thin telescope inside a 1.55 mm lens, and mirrors that reflect the light, the contact lenses can zoom in by as much as 2.8 times.
Accompanying glasses, which are affixed with polarizing film and sensors that interact with the contacts, allow the wearer to switch between magnified and normal vision.
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“The gesture that we use to switch the contact lens is a wink. It’s a closing of one eye for more than a second,” said Eric Tremblay, a researcher at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.
Tremblay unveiled the prototype on Feb. 13 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego.
“Having something that’s on your eyes has some advantages in terms of tracking vision with your natural eye movements,” he told the Star.
Research into the telescopic lenses first began in 2009, Tremblay said.
The project was funded by the Pentagon’s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with the goal of allowing U.S. soldiers to see virtual images while remaining aware of their immediate surroundings.
Tremblay said the technology is now aimed at adults suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a form of damage to the centre of the retina that makes seeing straight ahead difficult.
“It can be pretty devastating in terms of day-to-day activities: driving, reading, recognizing faces,” said Dr. Derek MacDonald, spokesperson for the Ontario Association of Optometrists.
MacDonald said as many as 1.5 million Canadians, including 500,000 in Ontario, have some degree of AMD.
Preventative care is crucial, he said, explaining that taking ocular supplements, boosting antioxidant levels and not smoking can help.
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MacDonald added that technologies such as the zooming contact lenses should be regarded as a tool for individuals already suffering from vision loss.
“It’s certainly not a treatment for the disease. It’s a bit of a work-around . . . to try to make the most of what the patient has.”
Meanwhile, Tremblay stressed that the telescopic contacts were still in the research phase; only five people have tested the lenses so far, and they are only wearable for a few minutes at a time.
Keeping the lenses oxygenated — a necessity for extended wear — will be a priority as the research moves forward, he added. “We still have quite a ways to go.”
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