Back in December, we shared Sheila Nirenberg’s TED Talk about Cornell University’s breakthrough retinal prosthetic device. At the time when she gave her presentation, her team had figured out the principles to “cracking the code” to the brain’s visual process. They had the theory for the prosthetic in place, but had yet to put it into action.

On Monday, however, Cornell announced another huge breakthrough, as the research team had successfully developed a working prosthetic for a mouse, almost completely restoring its vision. On top of this, the team also cracked the code for a monkey retina, “which is essentially identical to that of a human.” They hope to begin human trials within the next couple of years.

Over the years, there have been many different theories for sight-restoring retinal prosthetics and many attempts have been made, with varying rates of success. Dr. Joseph Rizzo and Professor John Wyatt of MIT recently submitted a video to GE’s Focus Forward short film festival, highlighting the work they have done to restore sight through retinal prosthetics.

While Cornell’s bionic eye is looking like the model that will eventually win the race in world of ocular prosthetics, it’s important to recognize the hard work and passion that the team at MIT has committed. If you’re curious to see how these two methods of sight restoration compare, watch the two videos below outlining the technology behind both devices and let us know what you think.

We recently had the chance to interview, Shu-Chu Yamaguchi, half of the husband and wife duo behind the charitable eyewear company, 141 Eyewear. As we mentioned in a post last week, the Yamaguchis have built 141 around the concept of donating one pair of eyeglasses to someone in need for every pair they sell.

While applying this type of business model is rewarding, there are a unique set of challenges that come along with it…

NVG: How did you initially come up with the idea to base your eyewear business around giving to the less fortunate and what kind of obstacles have you faced putting such a unique business plan into action?  

141: On a drive up to Seattle to visit Kyle’s cousins, who are both optometrists, we started discussing eyewear and all its elements.  I’ve been in the optical field for over six years and Kyle was at Nike developing the hottest basketball shoes for the NBA’s top athletes.  We decided to combine our passion for eyewear with our knowledge of how to build great products to start a new eyewear line; however, we didn’t want to just start any frame line, we wanted it to have meaning….and 141 was born.

During our business development, we had a chance to go on a mission trip with The Lions Club to Manzanillo, Mexico.  During that entire trip we distributed thousands of recycled prescription glasses to the people there who could not afford it on their own.

That trip really opened our eyes and we thought, “why can’t we give people their exact prescriptions in new frames instead of used and recycled ones?”  And this is how we really solidified the 141 (play on words, one for one) model.

Kyle and I faced many challenges.  First and foremost, we had to figure out a way to get our brand out there. There are so many different brands/products out there, we wanted to create a business which offered a high-quality product and could help people at the same time.

In addition, the most rewarding part of our business has also been one of the most challenging…that being the giving aspect of 141. In order to hold a clinic, it requires a lot of moving parts to come together. You need the doctors, frames, lenses, finishing equipment, exam equipment, etc, etc, etc…at the same time, when we have been able to bring all of these elements together and actually give glasses to people in our own communities, it’s all worth the challenge and obstacles we encountered along the way!

NGV: How have you been donating eyewear to the less fortunate? Do you have any other partnerships with charitable organizations aside from OneSight?  

141: Yes, our very first clinic happened even before we started selling.  We had our first and only international clinic in southern Taiwan.  My family is from there and there was a connection there with a doctor who actually went to Pacific University, so it worked out well.

We’ve held several smaller local clinics here in Oregon.  We’re currently working with The Lions Club to give new eyewear to people who can’t afford eye care in Oregon.  Some of our very own retailers hold their own clinics and we give to them as well.

NVG: How have you been able to utilize social media to convey what your company is about?

141: We’ve utilized Facebook a lot to tell our story.  We’ve even asked our Facebook fans to provide their input on naming a frame color and giving us their opinion on a style.  It’s been great.

We haven’t advertised so a lot of it has been through word of mouth and fashion/lifestyle bloggers.  The Oregonian has written about us several times and we’ve had a chance to talk about our story to Kim Maus on her morning show.  But, our story is best shared by the opticians in the optical stores.  They tell our story and get our brand out there in front of their patients/consumers and the word spreads from there.

NVG: I noticed that all of your glasses are named after areas and streets in Portland. How has Portland helped influence your brand of eyewear?

Portland has really been our love story.  The names are all based on elements of our relationship.  We met at the optical shop that I was working at, which is right off of Everett (a frame name) and we moved in together on Lovejoy (another frame name).  There are different pockets of Portland that are very unique to their district and have their own personalities.  It’s great and very inspiring.
 

At Noble Vision Group, we’re always on the lookout for companies within the eye care industry that are working towards the betterment of society. When those companies happen to be located in our beautiful city of Portland, Oregon, it’s all the better.

Following in the footsteps of companies like TOMS, Portland-based 141 Eyewear donates a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair purchased. “No portions of proceeds. No percentages. You buy, we give. 141.”

One of the ways 141 helps those in need is by donating glasses to OneSight, a charitable organization that offers free vision screenings and prescription eyewear in their Vision Van Clinics.

The husband and wife duo of Kyle and Shu-Chu Yamaguchi started the company in 2009 with a mission to change the optical industry with the way they do business. The two are well on their way to doing so with their line of trendy glasses, each named after various areas of Portland, and an important cause driving their business.

Check back soon for our interview with one of the co-founders…

As a lot of our readers may know, August is National Children’s Vision and Learning Month. This is an important topic that parents need to learn about, as 80% of learning is visual.

Childhood vision problems often go overlooked, as most parents assume that the cursory vision screenings performed at schools are sufficient indicators of healthy vision. These screenings, however, only detect about 5% of actual vision problems, often missing serious conditions like Amblyopia and eye coordination problems. In addition, when the cursory vision tests do detect vision problems, 40% of the children who fail them do not follow up for further care.

At the forefront of the effort to spread awareness about childhood vision and learning problems is the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD), an international non-profit membership association of eye care professionals specializing in behavioral and developmental vision care, vision therapy, and visual rehabilitation.

COVD has launched a campaign for National Children’s Vision and Learning Month, asking parents and eye care professionals from across the world to tell stories of how their children were able to overcome vision problems and succeed in school. Only about a week into August, COVD’s Facebook page has already received dozens of posts, pictures, and videos telling human stories of overcoming vision problems and advocating the importance of thorough childhood eye exams.

To help spread the word about this important issue, here are some alarming stats from the COVD website that illustrate just how detrimental vision problems can be to learning:

- “25% of students in grades K-6 have visual problems that are serious enough to impede learning.”  – American Public Health Association
- “When vision problems go undetected, children almost invariably have trouble reading and doing their schoolwork. They often display fatigue, fidgeting, and frustrations in the classroom—traits that can lead to a misdiagnosis of dyslexia or other learning disabilities.”  – American Optometric Association
- “It is estimated that 80% of children with a learning disability have an undiagnosed vision problem.”  – Vision Council of America
- “Early diagnosis and treatment of children’s vision problems is a necessary component to school readiness and academic learning; and that vision screening is not a substitute for a complete eye and vision evaluation by an eye doctor.  Comprehensive eye and vision examinations … are important for all children first entering school and regularly throughout their school-aged years to ensure healthy eyes and adequate visual skills essential for successful academic achievement.”  – National PTA Policy Statement 2005, – Elements of Comprehensive Health Programs
- “Early testing for vision problems is key to preventing learning disabilities or, in some cases, significant visual impairment in children.”  -  Ned Calonge, MD, MPH, Task Force Chairman, Chief Medical Officer and State Epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
- “A three year study of 540 children found that those children who had visual perceptual and eye movement difficulties did poorly on standardized tests.”  – Dr. Lynn Hellerstein, FAAO, FCOVD, Developmental Optometrist and Past President of COVD.

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As technology continues to play an increasing role in our everyday lives, the overuse of electronic displays is taking a toll on many people’s eyesight. While tech companies have yet to come up with an electronic display that is less harmful to our eyes, researchers from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil, Purdue University, and MIT have developed a display technology that compensates for several visual problems.

According to the developers’ website, Tailored Displays can accommodate people with nearsightedness, farsightedness, presbyopia, coma, keratoconus, other higher-order aberrations, and any type of cataracts.

The display uses a dual stack of LCDs, the same hardware as the glasses-free 3D displays found in Nintendo DS systems, but with a higher resolution. The display’s “tailoring” process “uses aberration and scattering maps to account for refractive errors and cataracts. It splits an object’s light field into multiple instances that are each in-focus for a given eye subaperture.” The developers describe their approach as “as the projection of depth-dependent anisotropic patterns according to the spatially-distributed optical aberrations of the eye.”

The technology will be ready for immediate use for displays found in cars, on wrist watches, tablets, smartphones, and digital music players. With this technology in its current state, the developers hope it will eliminate the inconvenience of taking glasses on and off, especially for farsighted individuals while driving. It will also be very useful for people with cataracts, a condition that cannot be corrected with glasses.

These uses, however, are just the ground floor for this technology. In the future, the developers hope that Tailored Displays will lead to improvements in wearable optical displays, advanced 3D imaging, and more.

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A few months ago, we shared a TEDMED 2011 presentation from neuroscientist Sheila Nirenberg on breakthroughs in retinal prosthesis technology.

She explained how the visual process can be broken down in mathematical code, which can then be recreated by a computer and a camera connected to the brain through electrodes.

If Dr. Nirenberg’s presentation wasn’t visually appealing enough, we found this well-designed infographic from Mezzmer that visually explains a number of ocular prosthetic technologies. Some of these technologies are already in use while others are still in the early stages of experimentation, but all of them show just how far we have come since the invention of modern glasses in the 13th century. Click on the image below to see a larger view.

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Approximately 1.3 billion people on the planet could benefit from eyeglasses, but many lack the access and capital required to own a pair. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 95% of those who need glasses do not own them, and there is only one optometrist for every one million people. Vision correction can improve income, education, safety and general quality of life.

Up until recently it has been extremely difficult  and costly to provide vision correction in developing countries. The UK-based company, Adlens, however, has developed an inexpensive solution that could improve the lives of millions of people and revolutionize global vision care.

GlassesOff: Improving Your Vision with Your Smartphone

Ucansi, Inc., a US based company with a Research and Development facility in Israel, has developed a revolutionary smartphone app that may someday make reading glasses obsolete.

Their app, called GlassesOff, “is a non-invasive software solution that boosts the brain’s visual cortex performance.” The software is designed for those suffering from presbyopia, or “Aging Eye,” which often causes blurred near-vision, tired eyes, and headaches. It is said to affect most people over the age of 40 and “nearly everyone by the age of 51.”