Is 3D Going Too Far With Contact Lenses?

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3D images projected by your contact lenses? It might not be that far fetched of a science fiction reality. In-eye 3D image displays are being developed for contact lens technology, according to the New Scientist. Nanotechnology has worked in contact lenses already. Sensimed, a company founded from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, created the first commercial smart lens which uses electronics in the contacts to treat people with glaucoma. The lens, pictured above, transmits information about the wearer wirelessly in order to monitor levels. Don’t throw away your 3D glasses just yet though; it’s still a long way before we can see the future.

“There’s still a lot more testing we have to do,” University of Washington in Seattle’s Babak Parviz. His lab is spearheading the efforts. One day, in addition to creating 3D contact lenses, they hope to develop technology that can monitor health statistics like the glucose levels in your blood. To do this, Parviz is marrying microelectronics that are safe for your eye and transparent enough so you can still see. So far they have created tiny red and blue miniature LEDs which can help transmit information and create projections and have made lenses with 3D optics that are similar to the head-up visors used to view movies.

I’m all for the emerging health technology, but a contact lens that I have to stick in my eye to see 3D seems unnecessary. Since information is coming out that 3D might be bad for the eye’s development in young children, isn’t sticking something in your eye going to provoke some sort of damage if we constantly have to see in 3D when we are wearing the technology? Being able to not wear 3D glasses and see the visuals might be the next step, but putting a device in your eye to get the effect isn’t something I’m ready for.

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