The future of vision is…spirals?

Vision correction may not seem like a bustling hub for innovation with its primary offering being glasses which have remained essentially unchanged since 1920. Fortunately, if you wear contacts, you’re probably aware of the constant advancement of vision correction. From new types of contacts (who wants to wear a glass contact lens?) to surgeries like LASIK, there are constant discoveries in the world of vision correction and contact lens technology.

Thanks to Laurent Galinier, an eye doctor specializing in corneal pathologies, we may just have our latest vision correction breakthrough. Utilizing an ingenious “spiral”, Galinier has found a potential path to simplifying contact lenses for a variety of cases. This unique spiral pattern applied to contact lenses could upend how they are made and function.  

The unique properties offered by the spiral contact lens are specifically useful for people dealing with presbyopia since they already need two types of correction in one lens. The spiral could eliminate this need for multiple corrections.

Instead of needing a specific lens for nearsightedness or farsightedness, the spiral contact lens would adjust to their specific needs. One contact lens to rule them all.

So, how does this work?  

In conventional optics, light rays travel along straight paths and then are altered by a lens in front of the eye to compensate for any vision problems. If you have farsightedness, then the lens would adjust that light ray to make things seem larger when up close. And if you’re nearsighted, then the inverse is true.

Spiral lenses could change that whole system. By creating “whirlpools” that spin the light into specific focal points, the spiral lenses would allow for both distance and up-close correction. This is the main benefit of spiral lenses; they could create an adjustable focal point which will change as your distance to an object does.

I’m sold, where can I buy them?

We know, it’s exciting stuff.

Unfortunately, this is all still a hypothesis that needs to be tested (and retested) before it can go into mass production. Spiral contacts would be just one of the amazing outcomes from his studies. Galinier has seem promising results from his initial study with adults, but there are still many trials to go before they can definitively confirm their findings.

In the meantime, we can fantasize about all the other amazing applications of this technology: automatically adjusting phone screens, new types of camera lenses, and solutions to rare vision impairments.  

Understandably, Galinier doesn’t want to set unreasonable expectations for his new discovery, but this could be a major leap forward for vision impairment. It could be the ultimate contacts for perfect vision.