GlassesOff App Claims Vision Help

A recently-released iPhone app claims, through a series of "game-like" exercises, to improve the vision of those who are finding they are beginning to need help in reading small type. GlassesOff is said to eliminate or reduce the need for reading glasses for those experiencing the inevitable loss of corneal elasticity that comes with age.

While it almost seems the stuff of carnival sideshows, studies have been done, the latest results have been presented at conferences and, it seems, all thumbs are up and users seem to be lining up. Apparently an ordinary eye chart eliminates any possible placebo effect and subjects have averaged an improvement of 1.6 lines on that eye chart. They even have a Youtube video.

The company says their complete program amounts to 12 minutes three times a week, for three months. The first two weeks are free, then there's a charge to finish. Sounds like the average user may start to see some improvement after two weeks; at least users get a free trial to help them decide if they want to continue.

The science was published in Scientific Reports, "Training the brain to overcome the effect of aging on the human eye." And that is exactly how it works. The process is protected by patents, but it somehow teaches the brain to improve its pattern recognition abilities, thereby making it easier to read small type.

In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Dennis M. Levi, dean of University of California Berkeley's School of Optometry and scientific adviser to GlassesOff, explained that the app isn't a cure for presbyopia, but makes the brain "better able to interpret" the poor information it gets from aging eyes.

While your results may vary, it seems that they may be onto something here. And for those of us not on the iPlatform, GlassesOff promises that an Android version is "coming soon."

Interestingly, the company, which has a $127-million market cap, formerly distributed automotive parts under the name Autovative Products. The firm changed its name in August 2013.