No need for glasses: Bionic 'super lenses' that correct long AND short-sightedness developed



The future: The 'super lens' would be a one off operation, doing away with the need to apply contact lenses daily

Bionic implants that promise to give 45-year-olds the vision of someone 20 years younger could be available in just five years.

The 'super lenses' will correct both long and short-sightedness, allowing patients to throw away their glasses for good.

What is more, those who undergo the half-hour operation will not develop cataracts in old age, the British Association's Festival of Science heard.

Professor James Wolffsohn said: 'Everyone over 45 would benefit because it means they will be able to see distance and near absolutely naturally.

'It is the true definition of a bionic eye. You are replacing something that has aged in the eye with a technological structure.'

The concept is based on existing technology - the tiny plastic lenses that have been implanted into the eye after cataract surgery for decades.



These are stiff, however, and while the operation makes vision clearer, it does nothing to treat short or long-sightedness.

More flexible lenses called accommodating intraocular lenses have recently hit the market but they, like laser surgery, only treat either long or short sight.

Scientists are now trying to create extra-flexible 'super lenses' which could be squeezed by the eye's muscles into the shapes needed to focus on both near and distant objects - and all points in between.

They would be inserted into the eye in a simple operation that replaces the existing lens.







The lenses - which are five to ten years from the market and expected to cost under £2,000 a pair - could be used to replace the clouded natural lenses removed in cataract operations.

But the biggest market is likely to be among those who start to wear reading glasses in middle-age.

Professor-Wolffsohn, an optometrist at Birmingham's Aston University, said: 'When you are young, you can focus right up to the end of your nose.



'As you get older, the lens of your eye hardens and is no longer able to change its shape and focus so you have to hold something further away to read it.

'By 45, you can no longer stretch your arms far enough and you need glasses.'

Operating in middle-age carries fewer risks, as people are generally healthier and better able to cope with anaesthetics.

Professor Wolffsohn said: 'At the moment you do cataract surgery when people are old but arguably you could do this surgery at the age of 45 and stop you ever getting cataracts.

'There will be issues about whether to do this surgery as a preventative or wait until they develop cataracts. With the population living longer, you can guarantee most people will get cataracts.'

Professor Wolffsohn, who is helping several companies develop super-lenses, added: 'This is a one-off lens. Contact lenses are a lot cheaper but you are paying for them for years.'