Professor James Wolffsohn from Aston University in the United Kingdom imagines that within the next decade, the cure to near- and farsightedness will not only exist, but will actually be within reach. While the underlying idea of replacing biological lenses with minty-fresh artificial ones isn't
necessarily new (think cataract surgery), Wolffsohn's efforts will allow patients to focus both near and far, instead of just plain old, boring far. While the details on how the lenses work are a little scant (read non-existent), apparently eye muscles squeezing the "ultra-flexible" devices allow the actual focusing to occur. The professor has been working with opthology companies to commercialize the specs, and envisions the procedure costing less than £1,000 within the next five to ten years. Sounds good to us, because fancy new lenses or not, as people who stare at computer screens all day, the odds of us going under the laser at some point are a
tad on the high side.
posted Sep 12th 2008 11:01AM
Only if they will have the same red glow, would I volunteer to get faux lenses.
Got glasses? Then you are a human and must be terminated.
We have the technology... we can make him better than he was before. Better, faster, stronger...
Too bad a decade from now that 1,000 will be like $9,000
Get eyeglasses with small builtin displays, and we will talk then about eyes...
Is part of commercializing the specs doing market research to assess the demand for death ray red styled eyes? Kidding of course but the vanity aspect of this is intriguing although I guess you'd have to have a lot of dough to do this just for looks. It's also not clear to me what gap this technology would fill between Lasik surgery, and cataract surgery. Just that if cataracts do develop, replacing them only allows for the correction of near sightedness? As someone who has astigmatism which is technically a misshaping of the eye it looks interesting but I'd be curious to have it fleshed out a tad bit more.
Ben Bowers
http://www.gearpatrol.com
RTFA, doofus. What's vain about repairing your eyesight?
As someone who has extreme nearsightedness as well as moderate astigmatism, I can tell you that the reason I wear contact lenses, and that I am very interested in following this new technology, has nothing to do with vanity. I can see FAR better with my contacts than I can with glasses. With my prescription, only a small area in the center of the lenses on glasses provides clear vision. The further out toward the edge I look (not moving my head, just moving my eyes), the more distorted the image is. Of course, my extreme peripheral (outside the lenses) is pretty much non-existent. Even though they can't make soft lenses for my prescription (I must wear rigid gas-permeable lenses), I'd never consider going back to glasses on a regular basis. Couple that with the fact that I've been told that I'm not a candidate for LASIK (due to very small cataracts that started developing when I was 30 and the fact that my prescription is so extreme), and this is some of the most interesting news I've heard in a very long time.
Bionic lenses my arse.
Where the hell are plugable/upgradable teeths????
Can we PLEASE get rid of the grey comments? I feel they needlessly increase my need for this technology.
it may just be an illusion, but it seems that even the neutral comments are lighter than the highly ranked.
i'm with you, it keeps making me think my screen is washed out.
i dont think many nerds realize how useful this will be for us. the sulfer in the cystine residues in our natural lens will cross link as we get older which makes it more rigid, greatly reducing the focusing power of lens, and usually leading to hyperopia. most of us already have myopia from sitting in front of the pc all day. to get decent vision again now, they have to transplant the lens with one from looted corpses, and i hear the drop rate isnt that high either...
When can I get optical zoom? :P
That actually brings up a big question.
Since we'll have artificial eyes, should they just bring us back to 20/20, or should they enhance our eyesight?
Hear hear... the digital zoom I have on my eyes now sucks.
The pixelation gives me a major headache.
I'm waiting for a doctor who can shine my eyes for twenty menthol Kools.
Variable focus artificial lenses have been on the market for years. They are employed widely in cataract surgery. But the last time I spoke to an eye surgeon, they weren't jumping at the chance to use them just to fix presbyopia (even at $8,000 or more each eye).
I see what you did there!
dangit! That was supposed to be reply to somevariable...
I think eye glasses can be fashionable, so I'm in no rush to eliminate my glasses.
Can they do night vision? Also some type of wireless data display could be put to good use.
Ahhh Crap... Its Ghost in the Shell allll over again!... Wait,, I want some of those!
I think I will wait for version 2.0 with the infrared and telephoto options and the built in camera.
So. How many megapixels does it have?
They already have these. Go google crystalens, its not perfect... but it does exactly what the article says.
After a lifetime of hating wearing glasses, I got Crysalens implants 4 years ago. Like Dexter says, they are not perfect but they sure beat glasses. Someone who is thinking about cataract surgery or has presbyopia should definitely consider them since the incremental cost increase is not that much. Someone in their twenties is better off with lasik and waiting for the lens implant technology to improve.
Damn it all, I don't want technology to *fix* my eyes when they go crappy, I want it to replace them with better, more awesome eyes. Getting old should be something you look forward to in the future, so that you can start getting bones replaced with titanium, and eyes replaced with ...well, better eyes.
"Look grandpa! We got you a RoboHip 9000 for your 80th birthday! Now you can jump the 20 vertical feet to the 2nd story of the house instead of hobbling!"
"You know, sonny, back in my day, getting old sucked ass!"
I would love to have Geordi La Forge's ocular implant technology.
I cant say much but this article is a bit misleading. The modification of the lens in itself is not very high tech (actually almost crude imo). The amazing thing is when you find out how the lens is cured (pun intended) to a proper and more usable shape. This new procedure seems invasive but does offer better opportunities for if the patients' eyes change as they age.
I'm extremely myopic and have moderate astigmatism to complicate the issue. LASIK surgery is not considered wise, as my corneas are a bit too thin to remove enough material to correct my vision. Implanted contact lenses might suffice, I don't know yet, but any news of a potential new surgery to sort out my kind of vision problem is great. This would also be a huge advance for cataracts patients, and for people with ordinary age-related vision degeneration.
Although for my purposes, I'm just interested in anything that'll let me get through the vision check for police recruitment.
I can't wait to get Carl Zeiss optical lenses for my eyes like in Ghost in the Shell! :D
Dude, all I want is those lenses with a Terminator HID, or night vision or something cool like that.
We already have a permanent cure. It's called Lasik.
Seriously, what decade is Professor James Wolffsohn from anyway??
"EXTRA! EXTRA! In 10 years we'll have a means to communicate over what I like to call 'Fiber Optic Cable'!"
honestly here...