Researchers Advance on Bionic Telescopic Contact Lens

Researchers and engineers have developed a prototype of a telescopic contact lens activated by the wink of an eye. The 1.55 millimeter-thick contact lens contains a reflective telescope which boosts vision by zooming in and out and is controlled by winking.

Wink your right to zoom in and your left to zoom out, depending on just how far you need to see. That’s how people with vision problems may be getting some help in the near future — perhaps as well as anyone who just wants to be able to see an object from afar but don’t want to carry around binoculars.

The lens has been developed by Swiss researchers who presented their latest advancements at the American Association for the annual Advancement of Science meeting in California this week.

"We think these lenses hold a lot of promise for low vision and age-related macular degeneration," said the team’s presenter Eric Tremblay, from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, in a press release. "At this point this is still research, but we are hopeful it will eventually become a real option for people with AMD."

“Age-related macular degeneration” or “AMD” is a decrease in vision many people experience as they get older.

Researchers called the latest prototype  “a huge leap forward,” saying it has the power to magnify objects up to 2.8 times. 

The funding for the research originally came from the Pentagon which is looking to outfit soldiers with a bionic eyesight but those with AMD may benefit from the research and development as the costs for civilian use will be considerably lower as a result.