Want perfect vision and then some? Word is this new lens is capable of giving you the eyesight of a superhero—for life.
As someone who’s been near-sighted since elementary school, I can say firsthand that not having perfect vision is awkward—especially when someone waves at you but you can’t see who it is, and you’re left with that split-second decision of waving back or pretending you didn’t notice them. You know what I’m talking about.
Luckily, you might not have to deal with the awkwardness for much longer. Word is an optometrist from British Columbia has invented the ultimate corrective lens that doesn’t just give you perfect vision, but lets you see three times better than 20/20 vision. (No, that’s not a typo.) What’s even more incredible is you’ll have better-than-perfect vision, no contacts or glasses necessary—for life.
Dr. Garth Webb, founder and CEO of Ocumetics Technology Corp., a company dedicated to the extinction of glasses and contact lenses, along with a team of visual scientists, have invented the Ocumetics Bionic Lens—a tiny, button-esque lens that could change the face of eye care as we know it.
“Perfect eyesight should be a human right,” Webb told CBC News. (To which I say, indubitably!)
According to the Octumetics’ website, the Bionic Lens is implanted painlessly, and in only eight minutes. It’s similar to cataract surgery, where the defective lens inside your eye is removed and replaced with an artificial one. It’s folded and placed in the eye using a syringe filled with a saline solution. About 10 seconds later, the lens unravels over your eye and bam—your sight is corrected. It’s an outpatient procedure that doesn’t involve anesthesia or an overnight stay.
“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,” said Webb.
And with the Bionic Lens, you’ll never have to worry about getting cataracts, since only your eye’s natural lenses are prone to decay. It’s also way safer than laser surgery, which can result in icky complications like problems with glare and nighttime driving. The quality of your vision will always stay better than perfect.
In April, Webb presented the lens to 14 top ophthalmologists in San Diego just before an annual conference dedicated to cataracts and refractive surgery, and the surgeons were impressed, to say the least.
“There’s a lot of excitement about the Bionic Lens from very experienced surgeons who perhaps had some cynicism about this because they’ve seen things not work in the past,” Dr. Vincent DeLuise, ophthalmologist and teacher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, told CBC News. “They think that this might actually work and they’re eager enough that they all wish to be on the medical advisory board to help him on his journey.”
Pending clinical trials on animals and then blind human eyes, the Bionic Lens could be available in as little as two years, depending on the approval process in various countries.
So not only will you be able to see whether it’s a bird or a plane, you’ll be able to see who’s on board and about to get frisky in the bathroom. (Kidding. Sort of.)
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Image: Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press