Thought 20/20 was as good as it gets? Well think again. Telescope tech may soon enhance vision to never-before-dreamed-of clarity and accuracy.
Tech that lets astronomers take the twinkle out of stars for a better look eventually may allow people to achieve ?super vision,? researchers (who else?) are saying.The technology, known as adaptive optics, gives telescopes sharper images by correcting for interference in the atmosphere. It is now being applied by vision specialists to counter sight-impairing anomalies in the eye that are so subtle doctors did not know they existed until recently. The result could be contact lenses or surgery techniques that allow people ? even those with 20/20 vision ? to see better than ever before.The research was explained by University of Rochester vision scientist David Williams at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society this week. Williams, chief researcher on the project, estimated customized contact lenses could be just a few years off, and the university and contact lens maker Bausch & Lomb are collaborating on applying the technology commercially. ?This new research takes what we consider normal vision and enhances it. This is truly revolutionary,? said Scott McRae, a cornea specialist and pioneer in refractive surgery. Here comes the tech. Applying the technology to the human eye involves shooting light beams into the eye then measuring the light that is reflected outward. The reflected light is broken into 217 laser beams that are sent to a device known as a wavefront sensor. The sensor analyzes deviations in each beam?s path, revealing tiny imperfections or aberrations that exist in the person?s cornea and lens. The result is an exquisitely detailed snapshot of the topology of the eye, experts say. Whereas currently a visit to the eye doctor focuses mainly on two types of aberrations ? astigmatism and improper focusing of the eye, the adaptive optics system developed by Williams can measure up to 65 different aberrations. These measurements are sent to a mirror that can bend and customize its shape, altering the light so that it exactly counters the distortions.?When you look through an adaptive optics device, the world looks crisper, sharper and clearer,? says Williams. ?In some people, the ability to pick up contrast, such as minute patterns of stripes, is increased by a factor of six. It allows for a level of vision correction that?s just not available today. Adaptive optics enhances eyesight most under low-light conditions, such as nighttime driving, experts say. MacRae, medical director of the Bausch & Lomb-University of Rochester project, estimated that a driver sharing the road with a bicyclist at dusk could see the bicyclist from roughly twice the distance if equipped with adaptive optics correction.While the current setup is too bulky to bring this ?super vision? to patients on a widespread basis, researchers are confident some limited form ? allowing for the correction of certain but not all aberrations ? will be available soon. Then the days of trying to make out blurry letters whilst holding one hand over your eye ? which always seemed like stone age tech to us ? whll finally be over. ?You?ll just look into a wavefront sensor,? McRae said, ?and in one quick second we?ll have all the information needed to improve someone?s vision dramatically.? Just the way we like it.
