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Revolutionary Contact Lens
Date: Apr 15, 2005
Contributor: Julio Barrio
New lenses bid to help cut short-sightedness in young
A REVOLUTIONARY new kind of contact lens is being developed which could stop eyesight getting worse.
Scientists are preparing to run trials of a pioneering new lens on 400 volunteers, all of whom suffer from progressive short-sightedness or myopia.
The research team from Anglia Polytechnic will custom-make lenses for each volunteer after conducting a detailed scan of their eyes and analysing the problems they have with their vision.
Myopia currently afflicts more than a billion people worldwide and the condition is becoming increasingly widespread in Britain, possibly caused by higher use of computers and televisions.
Conventional contact lenses and spectacles do not currently protect against a myopic person’s sight gradually deteriorating, meaning that short-sightedness can become progressively worse over time.
People become more short-sighted, scientists believe, because their eyes cannot focus clearly enough wearing standard glasses and lenses. This causes their eyes to strain, leading to a deterioration in their vision.
The new lenses, however, will be specifically designed according to the particular make-up of a person’s eyes, varying in strength across the lens so that they fit the eye more comfortably and accurately.
There is currently no cure for myopia, although more and more people are seeking to regain 20-20 vision by having laser eye surgery. This, however, is rarely offered on the NHS and is an expensive treatment which can be ineffective in the most severe cases of myopia.
Because short-sightedness normally occurs in younger people, the two-year study will focus on an age group of between 14 and 21.
According to Professor Daniel O’Leary, director of research at the School of Applied Sciences at Anglia Polytechnic University, the trials are a very exciting development in the quest to banish myopia.
He said the aim was to identify myopia-prone children at an early enough age to be able to do something about it. Giving them specially-designed contact lenses at the age of five could, he said, protect the children from myopia into adulthood and help guard against eye diseases like glaucoma and cataracts.
Whereas long-sightedness tends to happen in later life, requiring older people to wear reading glasses to see things at close range, myopia most often strikes young people.
"When people get old they don’t get short-sighted, so if you can stop the onset in their early years you can effectively ensure people have perfect eyes," said Prof Leary.
"If the lens can stop myopia getting worse in people who are short-sighted, then you can move on to children who have yet to develop short-sight.
"We are very excited about this. If it works and is launched worldwide as a method of stopping people becoming short-sighted, it will make a huge difference," he added.
But some eye experts recommended a more cautious, less wildly optimistic approach to the research and its potential for preventing myopia.
Nick Astbury, president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, said: "There is an argument to say that you are going to get short sight whatever, but if there is an intervention at a certain time the progression might be quite a lot less."
Any research to help combat such a prevalent optical condition was a good thing, he said.
"We welcome any research that might help in this area."
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