Since I was around 6 years old, I’ve been wearing glasses. Admittedly, a traumatic experience made them necessary.  And, until my oldest was born, I was a four-eyed monster (with clip-on sunglass attachments, since they could never make prescription glasses that would solve my light aversion problems.)

Once Shanna was born, my correction reverted to the donning of contact lenses.  And, for years, I made my own cleansing solution (those preservatives left me in pain and unable to see clearly- with or without the contacts).  Until the Federal Government outlawed the practice.  (Too many folks just couldn’t follow instructions.  I’m guessing they’re the same one who click on every attachment that arrives in their eMail and then complain about the viruses, the ransomware, etc.)  But, I digress.

About three years ago, my eyes changed again.  And, now I no longer need correction.  (OK.  I do need astigmatic correction, but not as much as before.   So, as I promised my ophthalmologist, I use correction lenses when I read text.  Because he- and I- are terrified that I might strain my eyes and have to go back to wearing contacts.)

And, then the other day, after swimming my laps, I stuck up a conversation with a fellow water-logged soul.  Who told me about the company where his daughter now works.  (She just graduated from college.)  And, it sounded like a  pretty cool gig.

This firm (Paragon Vision) has perfected (that’s their claim) a process by which those who suffer from myopia (near-sightedness).  It seems that orthokeratology can make life much simpler – even if one’s vision is off by 6 diopters!   The firm also claims their concept works for astigmatism.

This could be vital to many, since we know that severe myopia can lead to retinal detachment, glaucoma, and cataract formation. (It about doubles the risk.)  And, some 25% of the world’s population suffers from some sort of myopia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=-AtWPD_FE3E

The big thing about this therapy- this is a much better alternative than laser surgery.  After all, we not only don’t have long-term safety data substantiating the capability of laser improvement, but many folks develop all kinds of problems from that surgery, years after they’ve undergone the procedure.

So what is orthokeratology? (It’s also called corneal reshaping or corneal refractive therapy.)  In a nutshell, the ophthalmologist examines your eye and prescribes a hard contact lens.  Which one wears all night long, while sleeping.  During the day- one has normal vision.  As you can detect, these changes to the eye are not permanent.  But, wearing the contact lens reshapes the eye contours so that our daytime vision needs no correction.   (Please note:  It takes somewhere between 1 and 2 weeks of nighttime use to have the effects last for a full day.  This is not an overnight “aha” experience.)

Alas and alack, this really won’t work for those of us who need bifocals.  But, instead of wearing two different glasses- or having to learn to hold one’s head in perfect position to focus between the upper and lower portions of the lens, there is another concept on the horizon.

Drs. N Hasan, A Banerjee, H Kim, and CH Mastrangelo published their design concept in Optics Express.  Dr. Mastrangelo (University of Utah) hated the need to fiddle with different glasses as he coursed through the day.  So, he decided to focus on the need for a “tunable” set of eyeglasses, able to sense where are eyes are focusing and adjust the focal distance of the lenses- within one’s prescription parameters.

As opposed to the myopia treatment above, this solution is for presbyopia (farsightedness; in particular, the sort that afflicts seniors).   As we age, our eyes flexibility loss (loss of elasticity) means we can no longer adjust up to some 11 diopters; by the time we are eligible for AARP membership, are eyes are limited to about a 2 diopter adjustment.

So, the trick is to develop a set of eyeglasses that is lightweight and of low power demand (otherwise the battery weight and size would be excessive).  Um.   That’s still the trick they need to conquer.  Because right now, their solution is pretty clunky.  And, it takes about 14 mS for the focal length to adjust between our distance view and that Samsung phone in our hands.

Their concept relies upon a glycerin filled chamber that has elastic walls.  So, the lens curvature can adjust via piston actuators (from the distance meter that knows where our gaze is pointed).  The battery and electronics (power use is about 20 mW)  are in the temple portion of the glasses.  Faster focal adjusting requires more power- so there’s a tradeoff between size/weight and response time.  Where it stands now, their glasses need recharging daily- and that’s because there is almost no power draw when our gaze is constant.

The glasses are also linked to that smartphone we carry.  We input our prescription into an app on the phone and that is transmitted via Bluetooth to the glasses.  Change your prescription and you need to upload those parameters to your phone.

Theoretically this could mean we’d only need one set of eyeglasses (as long as we don’t break them) for our entire lives!

In any event, things are looking up.  Or, is that better?

 

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