As a guy closing in on 50, losing my near vision really annoys me. And the current solutions are weak at best, which annoys me even more. These and the other companies working on similar sound great. But someone tell me why I would need a prescription for them? And is that true in the EU? The article makes it sound like getting them approved to be prescribed is a big hurdle. They seem like better reading glasses, which I don’t need a prescription to buy.
I don’t think I want it to be possible for someone’s glasses to die or freeze
People do dangerous things that are made safer by the fact they can see—like driving
Edit: you’ll need a prescription because the amount of focus it needs to do will be different for everyone and there isn’t a sensor to determine your eyesight
Well, I have tried multiple sets of reading glasses at different magnification. They all work fine. So I don’t think it needs to be that exact to match the person. And I would think some sort of calibration, either by manual means or plugging them into a smartphone and using an app should cover that. I doubt it corrects for things like astigmatism that are more complex.
I’d just keep a spare pair of normal glasses in the car. Anyone that has gotten to the point of needed glasses for both distance and reading likely has old pairs of glasses that can sit in a glove box. Even a slightly outdated prescription works in a pinch.
Bifocals and or swapping between distance and readers is a fucking pain. Something that solves that automatically, without a medical procedure, would be fucking amazing.
I think I’m more concerned about the unfortunate scenarios where:
Glasses fuck up meaning driver can only see near -> something that needs quick reactions happens to avoid someone dying -> driver is fumbling with glasses or trying to find a spare pair -> somebody dies
As a driver with short sight and glasses, if my glasses fall off I’m not suddenly blind - I just can’t read license places or signs. Traffic lights, other cars etc are still pretty obvious.
My sister can’t see the big E on the old school eye charts.
My kid barely can, as well. They’re practically blind without glasses.
I also am short sighted, though possibly a bit worse than you given your description. If my glasses suddenly fell off there are plenty of hazards I would potentially miss. Idiot kid about to run into the road, etc.
Good point. Maybe these are a “home or office use only” device.
I would looove to have something like this for work or home.