Courtesy of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
For all my farsighted friends out there, some health technology that could change your life. A scientist in Spain has developed a new type of contact lens that temporarily corrects Hyperopia overnight so that users can go without contacts during the day:
Pauné’s design is the first contact lens capable of correcting hyperopia without refractive surgery by means of corneal reshaping, also known as orthokeratology or ortho-K. This technique uses rigid gas-permeable contact lenses to reshape the cornea to correct vision defects such as myopia, stigmatism and mild to moderate hyperopia without surgery. Each patient is fitted with unique lenses that are custom-made for his or her eyes.
For the sake of comfort, the patient wears the contact lenses only at night. The lens works by applying pressure to the tear film that coats the outside of the cornea. This pressure changes the shape of the cornea by about 20 µm, or about half the width of a strand of human hair. In the morning, the patient removes the lenses and is able to see perfectly. The results are the same as with refractive surgery, but are temporary. These new contact lenses, developed as part of a master’s thesis by Jaume Pauné, are being sold at an initial price of €1000, which includes the cost of designing unique lenses to fit each cornea, and €400 for annual replacement lenses.
It looks like these contacts will be hitting Europe first but stay tuned for news on their North American release. [Science Daily]
