Bionic lenses five to ten years away

Cue up the na-na-na-na audio track and the slow motion video: Bionic lenses that can provide perfect vision to those of us who are functionally blind may be just five years away.

The prediction comes from James Wolffsohn, of Aston University in the UK, who suggests that implantable lenses would actually replace then hardening lens in people in their forties, unlike laser surgery, which merely corrects the shape of the lens but can't prevent it from continuing to degrade. Part of the idea is to replace lenses before the patient develops cataracts, so things don't get too bad, too far on.

"Everyone over the age of 45 would benefit," says Wolffsohn. The bionic lens would not, however, restore sight to the blind (unless the problem is due specifically to some defect with the lens).

Bionic lenses, which would be reshaped and focused by the existing muscles in the eye, to which they would be surgically attached, still have a ways to go technologically, but by 2013 to 2018 the technology should be at the point where it's ready for human trials. Meanwhile, when can I get one of these "Terminator contact lenses" which give me a HUD right on top of my standard vision and tell me where to get some clothes, boots, and a motorcycle?

LINK: Bionic lens "may help renew sight"