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BE AWARE OF WEARABLES

A SLEW OF HEALTH-RELATED WEARABLE TECH IS EITHER COMING OR AVAILABLE

KEVIN GEE, O.D.

WHILE WE wait for a new incarnation of Google Glass, other companies are hard at work in the wearable tech realm for health care.

SMART CONTACT LENSES

These lenses are in the pipeline.

• Accommodative CL/IOL. Google’s Verily (the company’s health care group) and Novartis’ Alcon partnered to create these products to provide presbyopic patients with autofocus for near objects. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Vision Care is working on a smart lens of which the first indication will be for presbyopia treatment, reported OIS.net earlier this year.

• Drug dispensing and environment adaptable CLs. J&J Vision Care is developing an “active” contact lens that would combine medication with the lens. The first will be an anti-allergy lens. The company is also working on a lens that will adapt to the environment to reduce glare and eyestrain.

• Glucose-monitoring CL. Verily and Alcon also are working on a “smart” contact lens that contains a continuous glucose-measuring device for tears (a potential tool in diabetes monitoring) and delivers data to a mobile device.

EYEWEAR

This space is rife with offerings:

• Amblyopia/strabismus. Ambylz (XPand), designed for children ages 3 to 6 who have amblyopia and/or strabismus, uses intermittent shuttering of one lens for occlusion in these patients. Eyetronix Flicker glass uses “rapid alternating occlusion” to aid in breaking suppression and, thus, restoring binocular vision and depth perception. Both devices are commercially available. Finally, Vivid Vision is a virtual reality vision therapy game that employs Oculus Rift to deliver images to strengthen the amblyopic and strabismic eye. It is currently available at more than 30 U.S. optometry clinics, according to the company’s Facebook page, as of Oct. 25.

• Fitness. Oakley’s Radar Pace glasses, from Luxottica and Intel, are smart sunglasses that collect and analyze personal performance data (heart rate, speed, etc.) and feature a real-time voice-activated coaching system that creates personalized training programs. VSP Global’s The Shop (think GoogleX) has been working on Level, a Marchon frame that houses sensor technology that tracks activity time, calories burned, distance traveled and steps taken.

• Low vision. eSight, eyewear contains a tiny high-speed camera that captures everything within the user’s view and instantly delivers it to a computer, which enhances the image for the wearer and sends it back to two LED screens placed in front of the wearer in real time. It can take photos as well.

• Motion sickness. XPand’s Anti-Motion Sickness sunglasses use shuttering lenses to “minimize the disagreement between perception and vestibular interpretation of movement,” the company says. OM

DR. GEE practices in Houston and is an assistant clinical professor at the University of Houston College of Optometry. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, an ABO Diplomate and an OCRT member. Also, he’s on Allergan’s advisory board and is a consultant for Weave Communications. Email him at drgee@geeeyecare.com, or visit tinyurl.com/comment to comment.