‘Self adjusting glasses’ to help a billion people by 2020
By ANIMonday, October 25, 2010
WASHINGTON - One doctor has taken it upon himself to help the poor in developing countries with his vision for vision: self-adjusting glasses.
People in developing countries who are afflicted with poor eye vision often don’t have access to eye treatments not just because they are expensive, but also because there are almost no trained optometrists to fit them.
Professor Joshua Silver, who after 25 years of research, believes there’s a solution. Self-adjusting glasses.
They come in two basic models: Double lenses that slide to regulate focus and Silver’s own design that injects gel for an even clearer result.
A not-for-profit company called Adaptive Eyewear runs a program in Rwanda with local health workers to distribute the glasses.
“She runs a little shop and she put glasses on for the first time and she was just so happy. She really just found it the most amazing experience,” CBS News quoted Adaptive Eyewear program manager Lucinda Johnson, who watched a woman try on a pair of the glasses, as saying.
Now the technology has been fine-tuned. The next challenge is to get the cost down and the fashion factor up.
“My vision for vision would be to see a billion people wearing the eyeglasses they need by the year 2020,” said Silver. (ANI)
