New Developments in Telescopic Contact Lenses

"An estimated 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide and age-related macular degeneration alone is the leading cause of blindness among older adults. There may be some new hope, in the form of prototype telescopic contact lenses," writes Science20. "Eric Tremblay from EPFL in Switzerland says the first iteration of the telescopic contact lens--which magnifies 2.8 times--was announced in 2013. Since then the scientists behind the DARPA-funded project have been fine-tuning the lens membranes and developing accessories to make the eyewear smarter and more comfortable for longer periods of time, and thus more usable in every day life. The contacts work by incorporating a very thin reflective telescope inside a 1.55mm thick lens. Small mirrors within bounce light around, expanding the perceived size of objects and magnifying the view, so it's like looking through low magnification binoculars." Read more.

Inventor Explains Telescopic CLs

"We built a telescope into a contact lens. It is similar to a hard contact lens, but embedded inside are four tiny aluminum mirrors. These mirrors magnify the light, like a telescope, making images appear 2.8 times bigger," goes the post on Popular Science's website. "You can switch between magnified and normal vision by wearing modified 3-D television glasses. A button on the glasses changes their polarization. And polarized filters on the contact lenses determine whether the light passes through their magnifying part or their non-magnifying part. DARPA, a funder of our research, is interested in super vision. But the lenses may also work for people with macular degeneration, a disease that degrades the central part of the retina. Magnification makes it easier for those people to decipher small things, like text, with the healthy areas of their eyes." Read more.

In another report about the lens, BioOptics reports that "the lens' optics allow switching between normal and magnified vision with the addition of modified, off-the-shelf 3D television glasses: Without the glasses, the contact lenses superimpose both normal and magnified images. With the glasses on, a liquid-crystal shutter will switch open a window for normal or telescopic vision. The crystals change the way light is refracted onto polarized films embedded in the contact lens so that only light with a certain orientation, or polarization, passes through the glasses to the contact lens, hitting either the telescopic portion of the lens or the area designed for normal vision. The engineers are working on a hands-free infrared LED switch that will allow the wearer to activate one of the two functions by either winking one eye or blinking with both eyes." Read more.

Contact Lenses That Zoom

A week ago, we posted a story about the telescopic contact lenses developed at the University of California at San Diego and how it might help individuals with AMD. In the past 48 hours, the news media finally caught it with the development. So in case you missed our original post, just click this link.

Pentagon Orders Dual Focus CLs

"The Pentagon has put in an order for prototype contact lenses that give users a much wider field of vision," according to a report from the BBC. "The lenses are designed to be paired with compact heads up display (HUD) units - glasses that allow images to be projected onto their lenses. Much bulkier HUDs are already deployed by the US Army and Air Force to superimpose data about targets and other status updates over users' views. The tech could help troops enhance their awareness on the battlefield. The iOptik system's developer, Innovega, told the BBC it had signed a contract earlier this week to deliver a fully-functioning prototype to the Pentagon's research laboratory, Darpa." Read more.

DOD Fitting Soldiers with Terminator CLs Next Year

"The U.S. military announced on Tuesday it is close to developing a virtual reality contact lens to enhance soldiers' vision on the battlefield," reports the International Business Times. "Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is working with Washington based company Innovega to develop a system of contact lenses and small wearable glasses giving soldiers a considerable tactical advantage. The ‘Terminator eye’ contact lens would enable soldiers to simultaneously focus on the battlefield and mission data, such as live video from an overhead drone, at the same time. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is working with Washington-based company Innovega to develop a system of contact lenses and small, wearable glasses giving soldiers battelfield information in realtime. The Terminator-style vision would enable soldiers to simultaneously focus on the battlefield and mission data, such as live video from an overhead drone, at the same time." Read more. Consumer versions of the CLs could be available in 2014.