The World’s First Electronic Focusing Eyewear: Pixel Optics Gives New Meaning to emPowerment!

A shout out to one of our patients, Joan Mokray, who is so good about bringing items of interest to my attention. Today’s New York Times carries the story of a new device that may be joining smartphones and iPads as devices used daily and charged overnight in a docking station. These glasses have tiny batteries, microchips and assorted electronics built invisibly into the temple along the side of the frame, to turn reading power on when you need it and off when you don’t.

In a nutshell, here’s how the lenses work.

The base power in the eyewear is the distance prescription fabricated in a 1.67 high index lens. In the fully automatic mode, set by holding your finger on the forward end of the temple for two seconds, the near power is activated instantaneously through a micro-accelerometer by lowering your head into the reading position, and de-activated when looking up. A swipe of the finger along the temple rear-ward activates the full near power range, and a swipe forward turns off the near portion so that the distance and intermediate combination remains.

The electronic near zone is embedded in a transparent, liquid crystal layer in the lower portion of each lens. For a +2.00 add power, +1.25 is provided in the intermediate range and an additional +0.75 is provided in the fully activated mode for near. The advantage of manually activating or de-activating this zone is obviously control over the range of focus and keeping unwanted induced astigmatism in the higher add power ranges to a minimum.

emPower! eyewear is due to debut next month in the United States, and its price point to the public is projected to be around $1200. Clearly this is a high end product, but boomers with disposable income used to gobbling up the latest electronic devices may find a utiility in the degrees of freedom provided by these lenses. As an aside, the idea of using the lens as an accommodative training tool hasn’t eluded me, but it sure makes for an expensive pair of lens flippers! The main point here is that having control over one’s add power in a quasi progressive lens has distinct optical advantages. As a disclaimer, I have no financial interest in this technology, but if it takes off I’ll wish I did! I leave you with the company’s promo video. Enjoy!