Water-based eyeglasses for the masses

[ezgoingrl]

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/brilliant_waterbased_eyeglasses_for_the_masses_no_optician_required_12220.asp

British inventor Josh Silver, a former professor of physics at Oxford University, has come up with a game-changer of a product design with his water-lensed glasses.

Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device's tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.

The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription.

You can mass-produce millions of these, rather than manufacturing myriad individual lenses each tuned to a user's specific vision deficiencies. And while the one-size-fits-all mentality may not fly in developed nations, Silver's goal is to help the hundreds of millions of people in developing countries who suffer from poor eyesight.

<snip>

Sorry, I don't know how to make a little url.

[Journeyman]

1. This is brilliant -- so much can be done for so little . . .

thanks for the post, ezgoingrl. . .

[ezgoingrl]

4. Yer welcome!

It's the first time I posted an article. he he he

[stumblnrose]

2. I wear water filled contacts

After big pharma almost killed me on a medication that should be off market but hides behind a black box, my corneas were seriously burned and I suffered photophobia and blurry vision. I was referred to the Boston Foundation for Sight where they make scleral lenses that cover the whole cornea and are filled inside with saline solution. Boston Foundation is non-profit and helps anyone in need. KILL BIG PHARMA BEFORE THEY KILL US>

[truedelphi]

19. Ouch. A beam and hug for your plight

We piss and moan about so many things, and always take our eyesight for granted.

It is such a precious thing. I am sorry that your sight has been endangered by Big Pharma.

Thanks also for info about Bostom Foundation.

[midnight]

21. Glad you are still with us, but you have such a good point about

those drug co.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Thanks for posting

K & R.

[ezgoingrl]

5. Thanks

It's my first K and R too!:bounce:

[dipsydoodle]

6. May it be the first of many

if you continue to find cool stuff like this which would be of real help to third world countries. :hi:

[sandnsea]

7. People in this country can't afford glasses

This will be huge if it works, although I worry optometrists will start attacking this and we'll have to go to Mexico to buy these too.

[Greyhound]

8. Here you go...

http://tinyurl.com/95ljaw

It's really very easy, copy the full URL, open a new tab or browser window and goto tinyurl.com, paste the URL into the text box and click the button.

[Berry Cool]

9. What an amazingly simple, yet cool, concept.

One of those things we probably couldn't have done in the past with the technology available to us, but now it seems like the perfect idea.

[Melissa G]

10. What would be really cool would be if you can go back and forth

I need one level for the computer and one level for my book reading. I'm fine for just walking around or driving.
mg

[tblue37]

18. That's exactly how it is for me--one for the computer, one for reading,

nothing for walking around or driving. I assume you are also farsighted.

[Melissa G]

25. Just old age...my vision was always pretty good until the years caught up with me

a slight astigmatism but nothing worth messing with until my late forties when my arms got too short ;)

[tblue37]

26. Aging eyes tend to get farsighted. Nearsighted people often find

their eyesight improves as they age, simply because the tendency to get farsighted ends up sort of correcting some of their nearsightedness!

[phusion]

11. Hopefully the water doesnt' freeze n/t

[goclark]

12. K and R and R again

[kenfrequed]

13. This was one of the things I was wondering about

Well one of several concerns.

I do live in Minnesota and have enough problems with my glasses fogging up after being out and about.

[Posteritatis]

14. Not much of a concern in most of the developing world (nt)

[TZ]

15. maybe they could use a saline solution....

since that lowers the freezing point of water...

[jimlup]

16. These will help the 3rd world but...

The Eye glass industry in America will never allow it here.

[tblue37]

17. Oh, how wonderful! So many children even here in the US are

disadvantaged and unable to get glasses, no matter how desperately they need them. Glasses are pretty darned expensive.

Once when I was very poor, not long after my divorce when my two kids were toddlers, I lost my only pair of prescription glasses (they fell from my purse while I was walking home). I am a college English instructor and a writer and freelance editor. Back then I also did custom sewing and alterations to earn extra money without having to leave my kids when they were awake.

I am quite farsighted, so I can't read without glasses (or write, or sew). They were in my purse when I was walking because I can't walk around with them on. Anyway, the only thing I could do was buy a pair of those cheap magnifying reading glasses you can find in drugstores. Back then (early 1980s), the only kind available looked like the glasses Steve Allen used to wear--big, with thick black frames. They were quite hideous, but fortunately I mostly needed them just for my close work (reading, writing, editing, grading papers, sewing), which I did at home. When teaching in class, I didn’t have to wear them.

It is horrible that so many who need glasses can’t afford them. Same with hearing aids, which I wear. But I needed hearing aids long before I could afford them. Instead I purchased a $20 amplifier the size of a Walkman at Radio Shack. Instead of its cheap earphones, I used a single jack + earplug. Now I need new, stronger hearing aids, but they will cost $3500 to $4000, which I won’t be able to afford for at least year or two.

I wish we could get affordable glasses and hearing aids. It would do so much to improve people’s quality of life. I can get a significant part of the cost of my prescription glasses paid for by insurance each year, so I end up owing just about $90 for a pair, as long as I need just one pair. But not my hearing aids. That money I will have to come up with on my own, though my insurance does pay for my hearing exam, thank goodness. If we get universal healthcare, I sure hope hearing aids will be covered!

The Lion's Club has long collected used glasses to refurbish them and get them to poor children free or at low cost. Imagine how many kids in the ghettoes or in poor rural areas end up doing poorly in school because they can't see the blackboard or read their books, or even see well enough to write.

[Muttocracy]

20. awesome! nt

[progressoid]

22. Normally I'd K/R a thread like this but not without a tiny url...

:) I keeeed!

Actually, I'd K/R it just for linking to that site. There's some pretty cool shit on that site. :thumbsup:

[defendandprotect]

23. ...also try organic carrots --- !!!

[proud progressive]

24. way-to-go, whipersnapper. great post! look at the 'recs' you have so far.