A group of students received an award for their innovative idea concerning contact lenses in the Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision Awards Program.

The students called their project BlindSight. It is a special contact lens with a built-in "nano-camera" that would have the ability to send images to a computer chip implanted in a patient’s brain. This way blind people would be able to see the world around them. In addition, the chip would be able to retrieve the person’s memories from the period before they went blind.

Other awarded projects included an idea for the production of artificial kidneys, a prosthetic inner ear, and a new way of capturing wind and solar energy.

The winners of the competition will receive bonds worth from $5,000 to $10,000 and an expenses-paid trip with their families, mentors and coaches to Washington, DC, for a gala awards weekend, which will take place in June. The competition is sponsored by Toshiba and administered by the National Science Teachers Association.

Vistakon, a division of Johnson & Johnson, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of contact lenses and related products. The company is mostly known for the ACUVUE® Brand Soft Disposable Contact Lenses, which are distributed in more than 70 countries around the world. Its new corporate strategy may strengthen Vistakon’s position even more.

The company’s representatives declare that it has made innovation its main priority, which should lead – through expansion of product portfolio and rise in consumer satisfaction – to larger market share and higher profitability.

Furthermore, the strategy includes expanding Vistakon’s activity in numerous important markets, such as Brazil, China, Russia and India. In these countries, the company plans to concentrate on the 14-44 age group, because research shows that individuals from this age group are much more likely to wear contact lenses.

Vistakon believes that its research and development department will give the company further advantage over its competitors and improve its production processes.

Orthokeratology (OK) contact lenses, which are worn only at night and allow normal vision during the day, have been studied by researchers from the University of New South Wales with respect to their impact on myopia in children. As a result, the researchers are now quite confident that OK lenses can slow down or even halt the development of shortsightedness.

This discovery means that orthokeratology could reduce the growing problem of myopia around the world (caused by genetic factors, changes in diet and the increasing amount of time people spent doing close work (e.g. reading, using computers)).

Helen Swarbrick, who is the head of the Research in Orthokeratology Group, stated that the research had shown OK to be effective – at least in the short term – in halting the growth of the eye that is the cause of myopia progression.

Eye care practitioners have been using OK lenses for a long time, mostly to correct shortsightedness (low to moderate). According to Swarbrick, the effects of wearing OK lenses for even a single night can be dramatic.

Although the vast majority of people believe that sight is the most important of the five senses, a recently published study suggests that as many as 35% of Americans still fail to protect them by wearing sunglasses with UV filters.

According to Christine W. Sindt, OD, FAAO, Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology, University of Iowa and Chair of the American Optometric Association Contact Lens & Cornea Council, it may be difficult to notice the damage in the short term, but when a person is exposed for longer periods, there is a serious risk to the eye and surrounding tissues. As a result, such diseases as cataracts are often diagnosed when it is too late to prevent permanent damage.

Certain characteristics (larger pupils, clearer lenses) make children especially susceptible to UV damage, and that is why parents should take special care to protect their eyes.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways in which people can protect themselves. Most contact lenses have a special layer protecting the eyes from the harmful UV rays, and patients should take UV protection when they choose which lenses to buy. In addition, experts recommend wearing wide-brimmed hats.

SynergEyes has just announced that the company’s newest silicone hydrogel hybrid contact lenses (called Duette) has been prescribed to over 3,000 patients in the US since the launch of the product on 1 January 2011.

According to Vice President of Global Marketing for SynergEyes, Kellie Kasburg, the Duette represents a shift of the hybrid contact lens technology from the treatment of patients who have irregular corneas to vision correction in general.

The technology combines rigid and soft materials; the centre is made of a rigid gas permeable (GP) material (providing excellent visual acuity), while the skirt is made of a soft silicone hydrogel material (providing exceptional comfort). The Duette also uses a special, patent-pending technology (called HealthyEyes), increasing the lens’s wettability and making it more resistant to protein deposits.

Because of its rotationally symmetric design, the Duette also eliminates soft toric lens problems; the lens’s optimised lacrimal layer decreases aberrations and improves optical performance. The lens is available in sphere powers of +4.00 to –12.00 D and can correct up to 6.00 D of corneal astigmatism.