Self-adjustable glasses

SELF-ADJUSTABLE GLASSES

How many people pay for glasses in Croatia?
How many people think these prices are justified?
And how many people in Africa cannot even afford ophthalmic examination?
Let’s look at a paper that dates back from 2002 from the NY Times, which is known to few people.

World Health Organization estimates that 180 million people, 90% of them from poorer countries, suffer from serious visual impairment.

Percentage of people in Ghana who have vision problems roughly coincides with the percentage in the U.S., according to John Randall, an American-trained optometrist who teaches at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. In the developed countries like the U.S. it is relatively easy to find a ophthalmologist and make good glasses. In Ghana there are about 50 optometrists in a population of approximately 20 million people and per capita income that is less than $ 1 a day. Getting glasses can take weeks and cost a monthly salary.

Oxford physicist dr.Joshua Silver has developed a self-adjusting spectacles that are being tested in Ghana on the advice of the World Health Organization. Self-adjusting glasses are those that allow the carrier to correct their own vision without the need for the optometrist. Lenses of such glasses are filled with silicone oil and form a chamber that is linked with polyester film. By turning a small button on a little pump (injection), which is on the frame, the amount of oil in the lens changes, which changes the curvature and consequently, its dioptric strength. The wearer adjusts the level of oil on each side until he achieves a clear vision, a process that takes about 30 seconds.

These glasses do not correct astigmatism, but they are useful for presbyopia and myopia. According to data from W.H.O. dr.Silver estimates that about 15% of potential patients can be treated with these glasses.

Dr.Silver founded the company Adaptive Eyecare, and says that he will sell the glasses to Ghana for the price of $ 10 apiece.

Some doctors in Ghana are enthusiastic about the new invention, but they do not all accept this idea. Some believe that these glasses will discourage people from going to the hospital and discovering serious problems with vision. Also, it is not clear how durable the glasses are and how long will they retain the appropriate dioptric strength beacuse the oil and the form are deteriorating over time. However, many do not see that these glasses could be worse than the current alternatives with respect that the eye health practically does not exist.

For more information visit: www.adaptive-eyecare.com.

Editor’s comment:
This retrospective article is not written to comfort the one party that the other day cryed to me when she realized that the CIHI approved roughly 150,00 kn for her glasses with additional health esurance, but to possibly encourage the right people to thinking about how much investment return they give to people who live of 1.200 kn per month. Neither did dr.Silver made glasses in order to help the poor in Africa, but he did found the purpose of his invention. Useful purpose. What is the purpose to create the limits of functionality and aesthetics in health care and thus not give people the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of lifetime work in their old ages? Even if that pleasure was in making high-quality glasses.