Scientists have discovered a way to help people with bad vision. They are developing contact lenses that magnify vision. The lens incorporate a telescope made of filters and mirrors. When light enters the eye it reflects off the mirrors and increases the person’s eyesight. It is hoped that these lens will help people with age-related macular degeneration.

A unique feature about the lenses is the ability to switch between magnified and regular vision through a pair of battery powered glasses. They use LCD technology to detect movement in the eye, and something like a simple wink can determine whether the light is magnetized or not.

The ability to magnify vision makes life more suitable. “When magnified you lose a lot of your field of view, your peripheral vision,” said Tremblay. A wink will allow users to keep an eye on their periphery.

The lenses also affect health in the eye and across the body. Alcon, an eye care division, created a partnership with Google X to develop smart lens technology. They have already worked on treating glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness, which affects more than 4.5 million people.

James Wolffsohn, spokesperson for the British Contact Lens Association, looks forward to one day using new technologies in clinical practice. “The lens seems an interesting concept to provide optical magnification to the retina when required. It is currently a scleral lens and thick, including rigid mirror elements which are likely to affect corneal physiology and comfort, ” said Wolffsohn. He also added, “There are also many other exciting developments in innovative uses of contact lenses.”

More than thirty million people wear contact lenses in the United States, and the eye can be the catalyst to many disease states. Its important that scientists develop a way to medically help people through contact lenses, which is the future. “Eye sensing in contact lenses is here to stay in one form or another,” said David Bailey, CEO of Sensimed.