Telescopic Lens Promises Help for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Swiss researchers worked with funding from U.S. Department of Defense.

Researchers in Switzerland say they are about two years away from developing a contact lens that helps people with age-related macular degeneration by magnifying objects at the wink of an eye. The lens contains an extremely thin telescope that is switched on when the wearer winks their right eye and returns to normal when they wink their left eye. The contact lens magnifies objects by 2.8 times, making road signs, facial features and other objects large enough for people with AMD to recognize with their peripheral vision. The research has been funded by DARPA, the research agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, as a means of giving soldiers a form of bionic vision.

Read more and see images at The Guardian