A lack of optometrists in the world’s poorest countries means that the poor cannot have their much-needed glasses. One such country is Ghana where there is just one optometrist for every eight million people.

There is now a technological solution to this situation which could ‘provide glasses for one billion people.’ Joshua Silver, a physics professor at the University of Oxford, has developed self-refractive glasses with lenses that can be altered by the wearer herself or himself, with the secret lying in the components of the lenses. Operationalizing the timely campaign, the group Global Vision 2020 currently trains charity volunteers for the distribution of such glasses.

The so-called ‘liquid’ glasses had been under development for over 20 years. The technology is cutting edge: clear membranes are filled with silicon oil, and protected by plastic discs. ‘The wearer can adjust the amount of oil in the lenses using a dial fitted to a syringe on the arms of the glasses.’

A change in the amount of oil in the lenses automatically changes their curvature, thereby altering their strength. ‘When someone has adjusted the lenses to suit their vision, the lenses are sealed with a valve and the syringes removed, giving near-instant glasses with no need for an optometrist.’

30,000 pairs of self-refraction glasses have already been distributed around the world.

Via CNN