e-Vision Accelerates Development Program for First Fully Tunable Electronic Contact Lens

LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Nov 12, 2015) - E-Vision Smart Optics, Inc., a Sarasota-based company specializing in electrically-modulated tunable lens technology, announced today that it is developing the first electronic contact lens (ECL) that will allow the wearer to continuously adjust far, near and middle-vision customized to the individual's own needs. 

This proprietary lens-based technology, already fabricated for electronic focusing eyeglasses, ophthalmic diagnostic equipment and in development with the U.S. military for augmented-reality head mounted displays, will now be integrated into standard contact lens designs.

Several important strategic efforts support e-Vision's accelerated timeline to bring this fully tunable ECL to market. E-Vision recently closed a round of financing within its existing shareholder base to fund this development program. Additionally, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), a science institute established by NASA, this week issued e-Vision a grant to develop the first fully tunable electronic eyeglasses to address the deterioration of vision that astronauts experience during space travel. 

E-Vision has nearly 550 patents issued or pending worldwide to protect its intellectual property. Its latest patent issued on October 13, 2015 (US 9155614 B2) titled, "Flexible dynamic electro-active lens," provides exclusive use to e-Vision for the use of any flexible lens containing electro-active materials. 

"E-Vision is the leading developer of electrically-modulated lenses and the fully tunable electronic contact lens is the exciting next phase in our development," said Joel D. Zychick, President and CEO of e-Vision. "This will be the only flexible contact lens giving the end-user the ability to choose from a variety of prescription settings and to dynamically change focus while correcting for a variety of visual impairments, including myopia, hyperopia and higher order aberrations. The first prototype of e-Vision's ECL will be available by late next year."

"The platform technology behind e-Vision's ECL is based on years of research and fine-tuning to identify the best known methods for activating electro-optics in liquid crystal to achieve visual outcomes that have never before been available for a contact lens," said Philip J. Bos, Professor, Chemical Physics Program, Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University. "E-Vision has forged close working relationships with scientists, the U.S. military and the private sector, all of whom have collectively contributed to significant advancements in this field as well as our understanding of electronic lenses."

About the ECL
E-Vision's ECL will have the same look and feel of a traditional flexible contact lens, but unlike fixed lenses, it will allow the wearer to select pre-set focus ranges to change prescription in as little time as 200 milliseconds. Featuring the Company's Smart Focus Optics™ platform technology, the ECL contains an electric field surrounded by a tiny, near invisible layer of liquid crystal material (similar to the screen on a laptop or smart phone). When powered with tiny amounts of electricity (microwatts), uniquely placed electrodes activate the liquid crystal layer and specific optical focus profiles can be achieved. These profiles can create hyperopic or myopic spherical shapes as well as aspheric shapes. E-Vision's ECL power requirements are incredibly efficient so the lens can operate independent of frames or wearable charging stations. 

About e-Vision
E-Vision has been a pioneer in electronic lens modulation with more than 15 years of experience designing and fabricating optics that control and shape light with no moving parts. E-Vision's platform technology, Smart Focus Optics™, relies on electrically modulating optics and lenses to refract, diffract or diffuse light. This tunable technology can be applied to lenses of any kind -- including eyeglasses, contact lenses, intraocular lenses, VR & AR systems and camera lenses. And, it can be integrated into either flat or curved surfaces, whether rigid or flexible. 

E-Vision is a privately held Delaware-based Corporation with its development facility and administrative offices located in Sarasota, Florida. The parent company was established in 1999 and its initial focus was technology licensing and transfer activities for lens-based applications. In 2010, e-Vision created Smart Optics, Inc., to expand its development platform to also address all conventional and/or fluidic/liquid lenses that have electronics associated with them. For more information, please visit www.evisionoptics.com.