I've worn glasses since I was in the second grade. I have very poor eyesight. Indeed, I was the only 7-year-old with bifocals in my class. I'm so fortunate that my teachers and parents realized at an early age that I needed help seeing the world around me. Without the visual aide of glasses, I surely would have fallen behind in school and life.
I was pleased to read about Dow Corning's partnership with the Centre for Vision in the Developing World (CVDW). The Child ViSion initiative was formally launched in March 2011 to help provide vision correction to children in the developing world via self-adjustable glasses.
The new glasses, filled with a Dow Corning optical silicone fluid, are designed specifically for the needs of myopic (nearsighted) teenagers. With a power range of 0 to -5 diopters, users are able to adjust the lens power by turning a dial on each arm. This adds or removes the fluid until the user can see most clearly. The adjusters are then detached, leaving a conventional-looking pair of glasses.
The Oxford, UK-based CVDW was founded by Prof. Joshua Silver, inventor of the world’s first universal fluid-filled adjustable eyeglasses, and Dr. David Crosby.
Prof. Silver’s original self-adjustable eyeglasses contain special lenses composed of clear membranes that are filled with Dow Corning silicone fluid. By adding or removing fluid via a removable syringe and dial attached to the eyeglasses' frame, wearers can modify the curvature of the lenses and therefore the strength of their eyeglasses. More than 40,000 adults in the developing world have already benefited from this revolutionary technology.
Here's to hoping that no child has to miss what's going on in the world around them.
To learn more about Child ViSion, visit http://www.child-vision.org.
Traci Purdum
Senior Digital Editor
