Smart lenses to halt short sight

The contacts will be tailored for the individual

Scientists have designed special contact lenses that could help make short-sightedness a thing of the past.

The custom-made lenses are intended to correct problems with focusing which eye experts blame for progressive short vision, or myopia.

A team at Anglia Polytechnic University will test whether the lenses can prevent people's myopia getting worse.

The ultimate aim is to give myopia-prone children the lenses to wear from the age of five.

This should stop them encountering any short-sightedness later on and eye diseases linked with myopia, such as cataracts and glaucoma.

Short-sightedness is caused by the inability of the muscles in the eye to flatten the lens enough to focus light from distant objects directly on to the retina.

Instead, the point of focus is in front of the retina, leading to a blurred image.

Glasses correct the problem by moving the focal point back onto the retina.

However, even when wearing glasses, short-sighted people cannot always focus very accurately on things, particularly when they are close up, said lead investigator and optometrist Professor Daniel O'Leary.

Correcting vision

He explained: "It's because they have some small optical imperfections in addition to being short-sighted and spectacles have the same power across the whole of the lens.

We look forward to seeing the results Mr Nick Astbury, president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists

"With time, the inaccurate focusing makes their condition worse so they become more and more short-sighted. So what we have done is devise tailor-made lenses to correct these problems."

He said that experts know enough about myopia to predict which children are likely to become short-sighted.

For example, both parents having myopia increases a child's risk six-fold, he said.

"We could do a little screening test when children are five or six years old, identify the ones at risk and encourage them to wear lenses to stop them developing myopia so they have perfect sight," said Professor O'Leary.

His team is currently recruiting 400 volunteers with myopia aged between 14 and 21 to test the lenses.

The researchers will follow their progress for two years to see whether the lenses have prevented any further deterioration compared with no intervention.

Colleagues in Australia are also testing how well young children can adapt to wearing contact lenses.

Around 12 million people in the UK, or a quarter of the population in the UK, are short-sighted.

Globally, the figure is close to one billion.

Mr Nick Astbury, president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, said: "Myopia is a big problem world wide. We welcome any research that might help in this area. We look forward to seeing the results."