Ocumetics Technology Corp
claims to have developed a painless eight-minute procedure that would
give you vision that is supposedly three times better than 20/20. The
"bionic" lenses would give even 100-year-olds better vision than
anything currently available. Does this sound too good to be true? Well,
we can’t tell, as it has yet to undergo any clinical trials.
“Freedom from glasses and contact lenses is a goal that is now a
reality,” Ocumetics says on its website. The CEO, Dr Gareth Webb, a
Canadian optometrist, invented the "button-shaped" lens and has been
working on the product for eight years of research, costing $3m.
"This is vision enhancement that the world has never seen before. 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.
The procedure is similar to cataract surgery. It involves removing
your original lens and replacing it with an Ocumetics' Bionic Lens,
which is folded into a syringe in a saline solution and injected
directly into your eye. Webb says that the specialized lens would also
prevent people from developing cataracts as the procedure replaces
natural lenses, which decay over time.
He presented his lens to a group of leading ophthalmologists in San
Diego earlier last month. Webb told CBC that responses have been
positive, with some eager to get involved in clinical trials.
"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. 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," Dr. Vincent DeLuise,
an ophthalmologist who teaches at Yale University, told CBC.
The Bionic Lens would make contacts lenses, glasses and laser surgery
obsolete, Webb says. If they do pass those all-important clinical
trials, he suggests they could be available in two years’ time. In the
meantime, I’d recommend holding onto your glasses and contact lenses.