User-Adjustable Glasses

DrLudicrous writes "An Oxford University professor has come up with a way to manufacture adjustable glasses. The lens is made up of silicone oil, which when added or removed changes the curvature, and thus the strength of the lens. Apparently, these are inexpensive enough to distribute to the poor people's of rural Ghana, who do not have the opportunity to see a doctor, let alone afford conventional glasses."

Comments

Re:Eye problems

[caffeine_monkey]

Eyestrain can definately occur from wearing glasses that are too strong. Anyone who has ever worn glasses knows this; when you first put on a new prescripton, your eye muscles get sore from the sudden dramatic adjustment. Or, you can get the same effect by reading a computer screen from a foot away (if you're nearsighted) with your correct prescription glasses. That's why I use my old, weaker prescription glasses when I'm working at my computer. It's easier on the eye muscles.

Several Misgivings

[Tsar]

I agree with these gentlemen:

But not everyone embraces the idea. "They will prevent some people from coming to the hospital, where we might discover more serious problems," said Dr. Samuel Asiedu, general secretary of the Ghana Optometrists Association. Dr. Ababio-Danso, the ophthalmologist in Agogo, also notes that many Ghanaians are unfamiliar with glasses and do not know how to care for them or clean them.

Also, I was dumbfounded by this quote:

Nor is it clear how durable the glasses will be, or how long they will retain their prescriptive power, since the oils or the shape may deteriorate over time.

Reading from the company's website: "The company was founded by Oxford physics professor Joshua Silver in 1996 and is based in Oxford and London. The company has developed prototype adaptive spectacles that can correct both far-sighted and near-sighted people, and these spectacles have been trialled in several countries in Africa and Asia."

In six years of operation, and after testing in several countries, how would they still be unsure of their products' durability or focus-holding ability?

Re:Eye problems

[Simon Field]

You are talking about eyestrain.
The thread was talking about eye damage, which is an entirely different thing.

People who need reading glasses are mostly those of use whose natural lens is no longer flexible enough to refocus well, due to age. Without any reading glasses, we would be under eyestrain conditions all the time, since we would be trying to focus the natural lens by muscle power, and it can't flex enough.

With reading glasses, I can focus on something close up, and I can take them off to see far away. People with bifocals do this by lifting their head, and yet I don't see people arguing that bifocals cause eye damage.

Reading glasses don't cause eyestrain. They prevent it.

Your point about glasses that are too strong is right on the mark, and argues my case that people should be able to adjust their lenses without a doctor visit. If you bought the wrong reading glasses at the drug store, return them for the right ones.

Or just turn the screw on the adjustable version.