Pair Of Glasses Developed To Reverse Nearsightedness Begins Retail

Over a quarter of the world population are currently believed to be shortsighted. It’s an inconvenience that most people manage with glasses or contact lenses, while others treat it with surgery. These electronic glasses, however, boast clearer foresight—they claim to treat nearsightedness, also known as myopia.

In the most common form of myopia, the distance between the cornea and retina—AKA the axial length—is longer than normal, squeezing the eyeballs into an oval shape and forcing the retina to focus more on objects closer to them. Needless to say, this strains the eyes, and the overreliance on short-distance vision means long-distance sight is weakened.

Developed by eye doctor Ryo Kubota, the ‘Kubota Glasses’ of Kubota Pharmaceutical aim to reverse some of the effects of nearsightedness by using LED lights to project geometric images a little ahead of the cornea. This distorted distance trains the eye to return to a shorter axial length.

Interestingly, eyewear wasn’t the product’s original form, Nikkei Asia reports. It began as a desktop-like design that users had to sit in front of for two hours, but testers got fidgety so the developers remodeled them into helmets and, finally, glasses.

A bonus is that the device is portable, and hence usable by small children who wouldn’t sit well (literally) with a bulkier desktop gadget.

With eyeglasses, there was also the challenge of fitting batteries and wires into the design while keeping them comfortable over long durations. These were accommodated with a few design tweaks and by only using essential LEDs.

As of August 1, Kubota Glasses have begun going on sale for a limited time in Japan. Kubota Pharmaceutical intends to expand availability to other parts of Asia next, and it has already filed a registration with the US Food and Drug Administration. SoraNews24 reports the eyewear has also been approved as a medical device in Taiwan.

Although there’s already a price tag attached to the glasses, they remain part of a test. There are only 20 pairs on sale so far, and they’re only being distributed by four optical shops in Japan. The company wants to use this batch to gauge future demand.

Yet, it’s charging customers a whopping ¥770,000 (US$5,707) for a pair—a steep amount to pay for what might just be a prototype. The device still requires long-term testing as we speak.

The company’s confidence likely won’t be matched by consumers, so Kubota Pharmaceutical is promising a full money-back guarantee to curb buyers’ remorse.

[via SoraNews24 and Nikkei Asia, images via Kubota Pharmaceutical / PR Times]