Jeff Regan’s life was a blur. Regan was born with underdeveloped optic nerves. Four years ago, he donned an unwieldy headset made by a company called eSight. Suddenly, he could see. He could read a newspaper and observe his coworkers’ faces.
“These glasses have made my life so much better,” Regan says.
Jesus healed many blind people. He fixed blind eyes with a word or a daub of mud. But how does a mere product restore sight?
Headsets from eSight contain a high-definition camera above the nose bridge. The camera transmits images to small screens—one for each eye. The device then beams video into the wearer’s peripheral (side) vision. With eSight, some people with limited vision, even the legally blind, can see the world around them.
That’s because many visual impairments degrade central vision while leaving peripheral vision mostly intact. Wearers can magnify the video and adjust brightness and contrast.
eSight won’t help people with total blindness. But the glasses could be a game changer for people whose vision can’t be corrected with ordinary lenses. eSight believes about 200 million people worldwide could benefit from its glasses.
Most other devices for the legally blind don’t magnify live video. Instead, they photograph still images, analyze them, and generate an automated voice. The voice describes what the wearer is looking at. eSight wearers can actually see what’s happening around them.
Before eSight glasses become widely available, the company must prove the glasses are safe and effective. The headsets don’t require approval from health officials, but there’s not yet firm evidence of their benefits. Studies are underway.
People who’ve tried the glasses say the biggest hazard is risk of falling. eSight glasses are meant for sitting or standing situations.
The headsets cost about $10,000. That’s a lot of money for people who often have trouble getting high-paying jobs because they can’t see.
So far, insurers won’t cover the cost of eSight glasses. They’re considered an “assistive” technology similar to hearing aids.
Yvonne Felix is an artist. She was part of a trial for an early version of eSight glasses. She still remembers the first time she saw the previously fuzzy faces of her husband and two sons. Now she wears a pair every day. She calls them her “Magic Glasses.”
Of course, there’s no “magic” in those frames. But the extraordinary bodies of both the scientists who built the glasses and the blind who wear them were all fashioned by an all-wise Creator. That’s not magic; that’s a miracle.
