Augmented reality contact lenses – so near yet so far
Nathan Efron · Clinical and Experimental Optometry · 2023
Augmented reality contact lenses -so near yet so farAugmented reality is a relatively new technology that lets you see the real-world environment with a digital overlay of images, sounds or text, that augments your reality.The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory.1 This is not to be confused with virtual reality, where you 'enter' a new reality -for instance, an underwater or space reality -by wearing a headset.The concept of virtual reality was formulated in the 1960s and the first commercial virtual reality tools appeared in the late 1980s. 1 Developments in augmented reality span a number of applications, such as head-up displays for military and industrial applications.More recently, augmented reality has been successfully incorporated into spectacles, and a prototype system for contact lenses has been demonstrated.Such developments have important implications for optometry, given that there will presumably be a requirement to incorporate an optical correction for ametropic users of such devices.This is a task that clearly falls within the remit of optometric practice.