By the time you would have read this, how many hours have passed since you woke up today? Consider this: the things you’ve seen today, the colours, the shapes, the nature, you’ve been taking all of that for granted. Because a poor sod or two may not have seen the things you consider to be drab or mediocre or routine. They may have seen pitch-black, instead. Sure, a MrBeast may come and help 1000 people see again. But, what about the rest of the folks? What about the 1001st person?
Maybe, AI could step in and help with that. In late 2024, a woman, in the UK, who was said to have severe astigmatism and nearsightedness, underwent AI-powered laser surgery. The result? It was said to not only restore her sight, but, also, elevated it beyond the gold standard of 20/20 vision. Which is interesting, because even as 2020 may not have been a great year, in optometry, it’s a treasured number.
At one point, the woman had an absolute dependence on corrective lenses, now she might be able to discard those. According to her, she never imagined that life could look so clear: colours were brighter and details were sharper. For her, it was like seeing the world for the first time.
In fact, it’s said her vision has surpassed 20/20 to become 20/16, which might sound like another interesting year of the past. That means this woman could see clearly at 20 feet what a person with normal vision could see at 12 or 16 feet. Interestingly, for many of us, 2016 might be a blur.
So, what’s going on? The technology is called Eyevatar and this is said to create a high-def digital model of a patient’s eyes, allowing the AI to simulate and refine the necessary laser adjustments. The surgery is said to last just under an hour. Pretty cool technology, it sounds like. Though, if she starts to spend 10 hours a day scrolling through Instagram Reels, maybe, vision could get impacted.
This is said to not be an isolated incident. A study involving 200 participants was said to have a hundred percent rate of success, with the patients achieving a vision better than 20/20 within 3 months of the procedure. Even cooler, 1 in 12 were said to have hit 20/10 vision.
So, could this mean that an Eyevatar-esque treatment could change the way complex eye conditions are dealt with? There are said to be close to 5 million blind people and about 70 million vision-impaired folks in India.
If India has established itself as an IT powerhouse so far, could it get in touch with India’s MedTech industry for some interesting laser solutions? Because eye problems affect not just the person, but the company. It’s said that visual impairments and blindness lead to a global economic loss of more than $410 billion annually due to reduced productivity.
Even if the technology comes to India, unfortunately, India is said to have a dismal ratio of ophthalmologist to patient of 1:100,000. Ouch. That’s a lot of time in the waiting room. So, maybe, there could be AI solutions to those who could afford this and those who get in line first. Something like this might, also, require someone to interpret the AI outputs and manage potential complications.
Maybe, the future of vision correction is brighter than ever. Can you look beyond what you see?
