I recently got a trial pair of contact lenses, and I must say that I’m pretty impressed that you can have multifocal nowadays. Of course, like any geek, I was really impressed with the testing equipment that allowed the doctor a glimpse of how my eyes focus. As I watched the images change in the machine and felt my eye struggle, I realized that the bionic eye was coming. Cameras can do auto focus and we are printing 3D limbs, so isn’t the eye next? Of course this post about Ocumetics’ Bionic Lens magically appeared on CBCNews, as if to answer my thoughts. Incidentally, Ocumetics does work with camera optics, too. Dr. Garth Webb, CEO and inventor of the lens, has the optometry field pretty fired up–we are talking implants, people.
“If you can just barely see the clock at 10 feet, when you get the Bionic Lens you can see the clock at 30 feet away,” says Webb, demonstrating how a custom-made lens that folded like a taco in a saline-filled syringe would be placed in an eye, where it would unravel itself within 10 seconds.
The surgery, which is similar to cataract surgery, takes all of eight minutes. Planned trials will include blind people, and if all goes well, this product may be available in 2017.
The passion for the lens comes from Webb’s battle with his own eyesight. He was running around with glasses in 2nd grade. Later in life he complained about reading glasses and contact lenses. He believes that everyone deserves perfect eyesight and has already set up a foundation called the “Celebration of Sight” which will donate money to organizations for eye operations around the world. Sounds like a good plan, but for now I’d be happy to read the specials on the chalkboard of my fave diner. So, I’m crossing my fingers for the contact lenses. If you are interested in fancy eyewear, you should check out our latest tutorial on Bluetooth Controlled NeoPixel Goggles. You can control these bad boys with your phone, which makes them fun for your fave con or party. Hey, blinky eyes!
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
