Mail Online
- Could revolutionise eye care in third world countries
- Being trialled by people in Sudan, Uganda, Cameroon, Morocco and India
- Double up as the world’s first adjustable reading glasses for people in the Western world
By SAM SHEAD
People across the developing world could soon be looking at life in a whole new way thanks to a new set of specs.
Eyejusters are self-adjustable glasses that can be focused by the person wearing them by simply turning a dial on the frame.
The user twists the removable dial until the object they’re looking at appears in focus, making them a sight test and a pair of glasses in one. 
The glasses can be adjusted using a dial on their side, allowing wearers to simply twist the dial until they can see clearly.
HOW THEY WORK
The idea behind the glasses is simple, and has been refined from an idea originally developed in the 1920s.
Called SlideLens, it works by sliding one lens over the other when the wearer turns the dial.
This changes the lens prescription to give clear vision.
The ‘SlideLens’ technology that the glasses use has been refined from an idea originally developed in the 1920s.
By sliding one lens over the other, the lens changes its prescription to give clear vision.
Owen Reading, co-founder of Eyejusters and head of business development, said: ‘We’re happy to agree that optometrists provide a better standard of care.
‘They check for eye disease and all sorts of things that we can’t do.
‘However, our glasses are particularly useful for parts of the developing world where there are very few optometrists so people are unable to get a pair of glasses prescribed.’
An estimated 670million people lack the eyewear they need, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The company have sold the glasses to NGOs and charities in Sudan, Uganda, Cameroon, Morocco, and India.
The glasses use a ‘sliding lens’ design to change the strength of the lens.
The glasses are already being trialled in Malawi as a low cost way to improve people’s sight.
Eyejusters are also selling their product as reading glasses that can be sold over the counter. They’re on sale in the U.S for $40 (£25).
‘A lot of people have different pairs of reading glasses for different tasks but these are just one pair of glasses that do it all,’ said Reading.
Eyejusters are hoping to get the glasses, which are assembled in Southampton, to an increasing number of people in the developing world through a campaign launching next week called ‘Give and Get’.
More…
‘Buy your own pair on our website and give a pair to a vision project in the developing world,’ explained Reading.
Eyejusters is an Oxford-based start-up that was co-founded by two physics students and two engineers who met at the city’s world leading university.
Reading is in Boston meeting investors and potential business partners after being selected to attend the Future Health Mission by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) – the government’s innovation agency.
‘On the Future Health Mission we would like to get investment in, build the business and improve the technology to get rid of the mechanics and making it more like a normal lens,’ said Reading. ‘We want to make them thinner and lighter.’
The glasses allow people to alter their own prescription over time as their eyesight changes.
The glasses are available in nine colours.
