The Spanish physicist that will promote smart glasses to correct cataracts without surgery

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To many this situation will sound common: the alarm sounds in the morning, opens your eyes and sees blurred. Many have already internalized the gesture of reaching for glasses before opening their eyes. And see. Distinguish the shapes of objects, all well defined. And start the day. Four out of ten Spaniards will be recognized.

With age and the appearance of cataracts this is no longer possible unless it is passed through the operating room. And that lack of vision becomes the leading cause of visual impairment. Today

There are no glasses that return clarity to the eye in a simple gesture to that

who suffer from this problem. Many can be operated, but others not for clinical reasons that prevent the placement of the corrective lens in the eye. And in the end, more than half of the cases of blindness in the world are due to cataracts.

For those who in one way or another would seem doomed to distinguish no objects and see only spots of light and color before losing their sight, there is a new opportunity.

, similar to those used in augmented reality applications, for

.

Paniagua is not an ophthalmologist. He studied the

. And there, in the final project of his degree, he came across an area that is the previous step to what will come next: "How to make images in biological media. To do this, we removed all the diffused light."

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This part of Physics has become the common thread of his professional career. "After university, I continued with the development of a research project based on ballistic images in diffuse media, which quickly conditioned me to continue my career in

». So he moved to the United Kingdom, where he has spent about four years acquiring knowledge in that field.

"There I started my PhD in Physics at the University of Exeter." His training and expansion of knowledge was from the hand of the doctor

, Associate Professor in Physics, whose work focuses on the properties of light (and more generally, waves) transport in disordered and "complex" media. And he also developed his thesis with the professor

, Professor of Photonics, School of Physics and Astronomy, whose current research involves the interaction between light and matter, particularly those involving molecules.

Together with both in Exeter, Paniagua executed the doctoral thesis on "

", which he defended in April 2018. In order to broaden his knowledge, he stayed there for a few months later on a postdoctoral fellowship.

in the same group.

Glasses to correct without surgery, a revolution

Years later, diffused light will be the pillar that will revolutionize the world of vision. With a

, delivered by the BBVA Foundation,

It will give a definite boost to your smart glasses to correct cataracts without surgery.

Although the process could be cumbersome for laymen, the researcher explains it simply: "With liquid crystal modulators, which modify the properties of light, we manipulate the light that reaches the lens in a way that compensates for the distortions caused by the particles of the lens."

At the moment, Paniagua works at the University of Murcia as a postdoctoral researcher with Professor

, who directs the

. This is where the researcher joins the projects of improving vision and image through eye cataracts. Artal already received in 2013 a millionaire and prestigious grant from the European Research Council, a

, to advance cataract corrective lenses.

All the ingredients they need to complete the mission proposed by Paniagua exist separately. Now you just have to

and turn it into a

. "There are already many commercial light-modulating crystals; on screens, televisions, projectors...". It is "a recent technology; It dates back to 2007, but it didn't have an application in the field we work with."

With glasses we can propose a short-term solution for these people. Even, be an intermediate step while the surgery arrives

Next to the glass you have to incorporate a "

. It is to achieve that intermediate step that in other ocular pathologies represent the usual glasses and contact lenses, "says Paniagua.

Last phase before testing in patients

The researcher highlights the importance of successfully completing the project that is being developed in her laboratory. "Not having surgery means letting the receptors in the retina atrophy and total vision loss comes." That

, blurred vision, increased sensitivity to light, poor night vision... They become the daily life of many patients, since one or two of their eyes get sick progressively.

"With glasses we can propose a short-term solution for these people. Even, be an intermediate step while the surgery comes." This annotation made by Paniagua could well be seen as a

,

according to the Ministry of Health

. Because up to

Before going under the knife, a precious time in which your vision deteriorates even more.

But

. According to the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology, in Spain it is estimated that between one and four children out of every 10,000 are born with an opaque lens, which prevents them from seeing. The

And babies are not operated on until they are at least six months old. Which also means a waiting time in which the situation can be aggravated.

We are now in the process of miniaturization. We know proof of concept works

Whatever the reason, the glasses with smart lenses that Paniagua prepares make a clear response to your needs. A device that will simulate in some way a healthy lens, which is transparent, acts as a lens and allows focusing.

And in this way,

- that the proteins within the lens aggregate with each other, which causes the light, as it passes, to scatter and the lens to become cloudy. And hence that incomplete and strange vision. "What we do with this device is change the incident direction of the light so that it reaches the retina correctly."

They do not yet have a device ready to test in people, but with the boost that the current scholarship supposes, they hope to take that step soon.

. "We are now in the

. We know that proof of concept works. We have to give it the shape that the end user, the patient, is going to need."

The prototype they are currently working with is a model of augmented reality glasses that already exists on the market,

. "They're not bulky, nor do they look like one of the Google glasses. Their appearance is simple and they should not have dark crystals either, "he says.

Clinical trials to successfully test glasses

Turning the proof of concept into something smaller and more manageable is not strange to the researcher, because they have already carried out similar processes before. "We have carried out the

", he explains. "It is a system that allows a complete visual diagnosis in any remote place on the planet. This would have a lot of potential to access people who cannot have regular eye checks." This project was carried out in his performance as

, where he developed and implemented new optical designs and configurations while also continuing to research and improve ophthalmic instruments for clinical diagnosis.

Another advantage of the glasses proposed by Paniagua is that they can be

. The use of glasses may or may not slow down the deterioration of vision and if the cataract is increasing, "we would only have to

", emphasizes the researcher. It would be like an update of the characteristics of the operating system, "here we would not have to change the crystals for a modification in the graduation".

The preclinical work, the previous steps that a drug takes until it is time to be tested in humans, has already paid off. For now, they have already developed

where they have demonstrated light corrections in human lenses with cataracts. «

». The trials that will be carried out thanks to the Leonardo Grant will allow to verify the full potential of this innovative technique against cataracts in people with the disease.

Although glasses will not be able to prevent the natural development of this eye disorder, Paniagua's hypothesis is that they will serve to improve patients' vision: "

, or that those where the cataract is very severe and the operation is recommended may have better vision until the moment of the intervention, and possibly after".