Are Bionic Eyes on the Horizon?

Technology icon Google teams with healthcare giant Novartis to bring “Smart Contact Lenses” to market.

In recent news, Google and healthcare giant Novartis have announced that they have teamed up to officially begin work toward bringing Google’s smart contact lenses from theory to reality. For those of us in the visually impaired community, this makes for some exciting speculation and dream-building.

What can they do?

Press releases surrounding the deal describe the lenses as having potential for some interesting features. Chief among these proposed features is active blood glucose monitoring for diabetic patients. Tiny embedded sensors will monitor blood sugar of tears and transmit results wirelessly to a connected device. (Presumably a smart phone.) Active, direct glucose monitoring means better opportunity to minimize other health issues related to diabetes.

AND:

Another proposed function is active focal adjustment of the lens. News authors describe this as beneficial to aging patients who suffer age-related vision changes.

I anticipate greater breath in application. Are these new lenses the miracle some of us have been waiting for?

Why limit uses to the aging? There is a large global community of people with a variety of visual defects. These people could benefit greatly from adjustable focus. (As much if not more, than presbyopic baby-boomers.)

I present my own situation as an example.

I am leagally blind.

I have a genetic condition (Ocular Albinism) which leaves me seeing roughly ten percent (10%) of what “normally sighted” people see. With my glasses on I can only see the top “E” on the Snellen chart.

SO?

As a result of this condition, I remove my glasses to read. I must wear glasses (thick glasses) to see, with any level of clarity, beyond 8 inches from my eyes. (I have been known to come away from a newspaper with ink on my nose from reading so close.)

What does that mean?

At 43 years of age, I have never seen a bird in a tree. I have never read a license plate from the front seat of a car. I have never read a speed-limit sign without bulky magnification. I have never actually seen my son make a goal on the soccer field. While I love going to the theatre, I cannot see faces on stage. I cannot drive a car.

Awww... Sorry.

I don’t say these things seeking sympathy. I merely want to demonstrate how life-changing the lenses proposed by Google and Novartis could be. While the capabilities currently being discussed for this product don’t cover extreme distance magnification, I can hope they have it on the drawing board for the future. Will there be a set of lenses for me one day that allow me to read a theater pamphlet and see the stage like “normal” people? Will I be able to see the traffic signal when ceossing the street without using a telescope? Will I be able to read the menu from the wall at McDonalds?

What do you think?

Are you excited? Are you scared? … Are you doubtful perhaps?

What applications can you see for these devices? How might our world “look” as we move into this next phase of the technological revolution?

Comment below and tell me your thoughts.