“Freedom from glasses and contact lenses is a goal that is now a reality,” Ocumetics states on its website. Dr. Gareth Webb, the CEO of Ocumetics Technology Corp., has spent eight years and more than $3 million in funding to develop this Bionic Lens that can offer perfect vision to patients. “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,” Webb told CBC News. Although similar work has been tried by other research groups in the past, none of them worked. But the story might be different this time. After Dr. Webb presented his lens to 14 top ophthalmologists in mid-April during an annual meeting dedicated to cataracts and refractive surgery, these very experienced surgeons were very impressed and willing to be involved in the clinical trials.
The procedure for inserting the bionic lens is only an 8-minute painless surgery, similar to cataracts surgery. The tiny button-liked bionic lens folded in a saline-filled syringe, would be injected into an eye after the removal of its original lens. The lens would unravel itself over the eye within 10 seconds to have the sight corrected immediately. It is an outpatient procedure without any anesthesia or the need for an overnight stay. Its safety is also guaranteed for not causing any biophysical changes inside the eye. This specialized lens is claimed to give people 3 times better than 20/20 vision, even for people aged over 100. Individuals over the age of 25, when the eye structures are fully developed, can use the bionic lens as an option for corrective lenses. As this artificial lens will not decay over time like natural lenses do, future development of cataracts can also be prevented.
Currently, the bionic lens is still undergoing clinical trials on animals to be followed by trials on blind human eyes. It could be available in Canada as soon as 2017 and other areas, depending on the regulatory approval in each country. This lens has much more advantages over current laser surgery, which causes potential problems with glare during nighttime driving and later cataracts because of the burning away of healthy corneal tissue. If all the important clinical trials are passed for the Ocumetics Bionic Lens, it might be time to say goodbye to contact lenses, glasses and laser surgery for good.
References:
http://time.com/3894170/bionic-eye/
Picture courtesy of www.pixabay.com
