EyeNetra – Your $2 Eye Testing Tool That Works | Hacker News Reader

EyeNetra – Your $2 Eye Testing Tool That Works

gadgetizor.com

44 pointsdkd90315 comments

I know this is aimed at the third world, but it would be nice to get tech like this in the US as well. The health care debate in the US has centered around insurance to cover high costs, but removing regulatory obstacles to people using a device like this instead of an expensive optometrist seems like a more workable solution. Of course, the optometrists might not be happy about it.

I'm not entirely too sure how good EyeNetra is compared to the equipment found in your optometrist's office, as well as how accurate it is.

I don't even know half of what the optometrist's office does. The bright light that shines into your eyes, the pupil dilator, all seems unnecessary. Those alphabet tests - really, the difference between two different 'powers' is so minimal I can barely make out. Call me a cynic - but the eye exam is an enormous waste of money and time. This device is perhaps what we need for fast and reliable eye care.

Oh and let me not even go to the spectacles cost. 150$ for a 'cheap' titanium frame, ya right :).

www.zennioptical.com is probably the place to go then. Get your prescription here in the states, then offshore the manufacturing of the glasses.

Thanks, I've moved back to India now.

Who cares? Let those who want to spend more money and/or have insurance go ahead and spend it on expensive eye care -- but for those with less money and/or no insurance, why stop them from using a tool like this, which is surely better than the nothing they're getting today?

The equipment in the optometrist's office uses Shack-Hartmann equations, while EyeNetra uses its inverse of that. Therefore, it is gives similarly accurate results, based on which, a Doctor can prescribe the glasses. The reason the optometrist's equipments are expensive is because they are fighting against human eye, which is very efficient in absorbing light. EyeNetra is really an optical hack, but quite an elegant one at that.

Edit: clarity.

So, how does buying glasses work in the US? The store I buy my glasses in has a simple and automated (but imprecise) device for quick checks, probably similar in principle to the device in the linked article. They also have all the optometrist equipment for more precise checks. (I think they share some equipment with an eye specialist who is next door.)

I only recently bought new glasses and after the automated check diverged a bit from my old values the store’s optometrist checked my eyes more thoroughly.

I didn’t have to pay anything for those checks and I didn’t have to show my insurance card. (I also payed 200€ for the frame and 200€ for the glasses so I sort of expected that level of service.) I also just could have told them to make me +0.75 (left) and −1.25 (right) glasses without any checks and they would certainly have no problem making them for me. (It makes sense to check, that’s why something like that is unlikely to ever happen.) I don’t really see the regulatory hurdles. Are you really telling me that you can’t just walk into a store and tell them which glasses you want? Do you really need a prescription? That seems unlikely.

German health insurance (at least the mandatory health insurance I’m using) doesn’t pay anything for glasses, getting a prescription is consequently not really necessary. Maybe you don’t trust the optometrist and want someone with a PhD to check your eyes – that’s certainly possible (and that’s what will cost the insurance).

Just checking your eyes, though – especially if it’s not the very first check after you noticed that something’s off with your vision – is something private companies in Germany seem to be more than happy to do without ever getting the insurance involved.

By the way, those automated devices are certainly not quite as precise but their main disadvantage is that they are dumb. I have slight Astigmatism, meaning one of my eyes has problems focusing light into one point and instead focuses it into a line. The resulting image is blurry but only in one direction. The automated device in my store couldn’t detect that, the optometrist could.

Optometrists (I have a few in my family) generally are more concerned with eye health. This device isn't any more of a threat than the eye care chain stores (ValueVision, LensCrafters, etc) and the cheap-glasses websites are. Many people still prefer to get a full exam at a private practice and many businesses still provide the insurance benefits to make it worthwhile.

Also there is a lot more that goes into getting proper glasses than going through a refraction (which I'm guessing is what this does) and measuring pupillary distance (which I don't think this device can do). And contacts are a medical device which always require seeing a professional to get a prescription.

I don't think this would be much of a threat, and is probably too basic to be useful in a developed country.

EDIT: This link shoes what the NETRA can do:

http://web.media.mit.edu/~pamplona/NETRA/research.html

contacts are a medical device which always require seeing a professional to get a prescription

That's part of what I'm arguing against. If you can get the information required to select the right contacts without seeing a professional, I think that's your right. If you get it wrong because, well you really should have seen a professional, that's your problem.

A lot of the regulations concerning doctor supervision for drugs and medical devices are intended to prevent companies from marketing devices that are ineffective or dangerous to consumers who don't have enough information to make a good decision. I can sympathize with that goal, but it's heavy-handed enough to keep some reasonable options for medical care out of the reach of low-income people who might otherwise be able to access them.

Contacts are convenient and easy once we get used to them but they still are medical devices sitting directly on your eyeball and there are plenty of situations where things can go very wrong.

Also, you really are supposed to own a pair of glasses for the situations in which you cannot safely wear contacts which effectively makes contacts a luxury item, not really suitable for people who cannot afford the fitting and health check nor the follow up visits in a situation where something goes wrong (e.g. an eye infection).

Recently my sister saw a patient who lost partial vision because she had an infection and just put some Visine drops in (it constricts the blood vessels reducing their appearance, which exacerbated her health issue) and wore her contacts anyway for several days, ignoring the pain.

That is an extreme example but contacts are a whole 'nother can of worms compared to glasses. It isn't really as simple as having your prescription and your fit and sending you on your way. And it is really best to follow the doctor's suggestions, don't overwear, use the solution as directed, keep them out when you eye is irritated, etc.

Next needed is cheap glasses sold separately in half pairs. Bye two halves, each fitting corresponding eye, then snap them together at the nose bridge.

Someone's already made glasses whose lenses are membranes filled with mineral oil or something similar. They can be "focused" with a screwdriver (adjusting circumference, ergo pressure and convexity, or some such) -- and, of course, each lens can be adjusted separately.

They are also, per the articles I saw, cheap to make. Not necessarily a fashion statement, but supposedly quite functional. If they are for read and exist in production -- some of these "good idea" articles are just that.

this one - http://www.ted.com/talks/josh_silver_demos_adjustable_liquid... ?

Last week I was visiting an optician to get a new pair of glasses and I was thinking if some of the measurements he made could be made with smartphones instead of expensive equipment. I'm happy to see that this is indeed possible and is already happening. It's always great to hear about such inventions that can make people's lives life better.

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