HOW ADLENS SELF-ADJUSTABLE GLASSES CORRECT THE VISION PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD'S POOR AND DURING EMERGENCIES LIKE JAPAN'S EARTHQUAKE

For the millions of people around the world lacking access to affordable eye care, Emergensee glasses from Adlens Ltd. might be the solution.　The glasses are self-adjustable and can help both near- and far-sighted people.

Adlens sees an opportunity to provide its products to people in the developing world as well as in emergency situations, such as evacuations following disasters like recent earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan.

 

"Adlens Emergensee" are glasses equipped with adjustable dials. A single pair can correct the vision of 90% of the population - useful for people who lose their glasses in disaster scenarios says James Chen, co-founder of Adlens.

For its product, Adlens has been selected as a finalist in the Asian Innovation Awards.

The World Health Organization reports that at least 153 million people world-wide live with uncorrected visual impairment, and the resulting loss in productivity is at least $120 billion a year.

The WHO says visual impairment is one of many obstacles facing developing countries trying to lay down the infrastructure for economic growth because it can decrease efficiency and motivation to learn or work, and compromises safety in work environments.

Emergensee glasses use Alvarez lenses, comprised of two plates sandwiched together that adjust the strength of the lens depending on how much they overlap. The technology takes its name from its inventor and 1968 Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez. Each lens can be adjusted to help focus eye refractions of 0.02 to 0.50, a measure of eyesight, meaning the strength of the lens changes from -6.0 dioptres to +3.0 dioptres, a unit of lens focus, by rotating dials on the side of each frame. Yoshinobu Nakajima, chief executive of Adlens Japan, says this range means the glasses help 90% of refractive-error cases. Refractive error is a visual impairment that occurs when the eyes cannot correctly focus on images.

 

Since its inception as a company in the U.K. in 2005, Adlens has been working with various humanitarian projects to distribute its affordable glasses to less-developed areas of the world, including Tibet and Ghana.

Emergensee glasses are also used in Rwanda, where there are only 10 professional ophthalmologists for its population of 10 million, according to Oxford University. Since 2009, Adlens has worked with Vision for a Nation, a nongovernmental organization that is screening the eyes of the entire population over the age of 8. The Alvarez technology is employed in one of the variations of free adjustable eyeglasses distributed alongside regular reading glasses to people who need them.

In April 2011, Japan became the first commercial platform in developed countries to market Emergensee glasses for what Mr. Nakajima calls "soft emergencies." Priced at ¥4,980 ($61), they are being sold on a variety of platforms—including the Internet and department stores—and are promoted as quick alternatives for people who may have lost, forgotten or broken their glasses.

The fact that each lens can be easily adjusted independently is how Emergensee will seek to be a step above commercial reading glasses that are already available. Mr. Nakajima also recommends them as additions to personal disaster evacuation kits.

Adlens's goals for the future are to improve on current Alvarez lens technology, and make the current design—one that strikes a resemblance to chemist goggles—more fashionable.

But most importantly, Mr. Nakajima wants to develop lenses that can help the remaining 10% of refractive-error cases that are outside the corrective ability of Alvarez lenses.

In addition to lens technology that use digital technology to automatically focus on images, which many other lens creators have set their sights on, Adlens is working on fluid-filled lenses called Adlens p.o.v. The technology uses the fact that light is refracted, or "bent" when it enters water from the air. Adlens p.o.v lenses contain an adjustable amount of fluid to focus on images as needed.

Adlens p.o.v. allows you to adjust glasses to your vision in a simple process that takes only minutes. You can change the lens power by turning the dials on the sides of the glasses to adjust the amount of fluid contained in the lens. This way, you can determine the lens power for near or distance vision quickly and easily. Once at a desired power, you seal the lenses and remove the adjusting dials. Lenses are protected by a polycarbonate cover, making them both durable and easy to care for. Adlens p.o.v. adaptive eyeglasses work as everyday glasses for distance vision as well as for looking at things near you like computers and mobile phones.

Mr. Nakajima said.  

"Eventually we hope to create a product that will accommodate people who cannot function without their glasses." 

Recently, Adlens donated 1,000 pairs of Emergensee glasses to local governments in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, two of Japan's hardest-hit areas. The glasses were distributed in refugee centers and to people living in temporary housing.

Mr. Nakajima says Emergensee glasses have been useful following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. When he went to distribute the glasses in Miyagi prefecture, he estimated that 30% of glasses-wearers evacuated their homes without their glasses.

He said.

"Many people who needed these glasses are in their 50s and 60s.  They need reading glasses, and they really liked these because they could be adjusted to different strengths."

He said local governments are considering stocking Emergensee glasses in case people need them in future disasters.

COMMENTARY:   As far as I am concerned, the Adlens Emergensee glasses are the Product of the Year for 2011.   It's an incredibly cool idea whose time has come.  There are millions of people in undeveloped countries, countless poor around the world, the homeless, and people who have experienced catastropies like the earthquake in Fukushima, Japan, who need glasses and would welcome this wonderful product.  

Courtesy of an article dated July 26, 2011 appearing in The Wall Street Journal 

 

 

Comments

[Carter]

I'm really curious to see if this goes anywhere. Will it have a huge impact on eye care??

[Just Try Again]

Thanks for the article, I was a little curious about people who don't need glasses, who people with good vision just have to go to a optician and have a pair of fake glasses made for him? If that makes sense, because I think that is an awesome invention, and a huge step forward in technology.