Auto-focusing spectacles

A trial of electronic spectacles with dynamic focusing lenses has begun enrolling its first wearers, according to an announcement from the spectacles' manufacturer, PixelOptics Inc.

The spectacles use a composite of electricity, chemistry and optic technology to focus faster than a blinking eye, providing clear near, intermediate and distance vision. As such, these "electro-active" spectacles would be suitable non-surgical correction for presbyopia. The limited and controlled trials will run throughout the year, ahead of the lenses" anticipated market launch in 2010. PixelOptics claims that the lenses will not differ significantly from traditional lenses in terms of cosmetic factors (such as style, thickness and transparency) and weight. The lenses are lineless and provide a wider and less compromised field of vision than is available with current lenses.

PixelOptics, which concentrates on developing these "composite" lenses, is also developing static focus lenses. It launched its first static composite lens, the atLast! Enhanced Multifocal, which provides enhanced intermediate vision to bifocal and trifocal spectacle wearers, in October 2008. The dynamic electronic lenses will be showcased for the first time at the International Vision Expo East in New York, March 27–29, 2009.