App offers help for presbyopia

A team based at Tel Aviv University intends to launch a smart phone app next year aimed at prolonging the time before reading glasses are needed.

In a report in this week's New Scientist, the co-founder of the company behind the app, Ucansi, explained it had allowed presbyopes to read two lines lower on a near test chart after 40 uses. The app is expected to cost about £60 for a three-month training programme, followed by a monthly top-up fee.

Optician clinical editor Bill Harvey commented: 'The app appears to rely on improving the viewer's ability to interpret blur with time rather than presenting a clearer image and there is no mention as yet of any negative effects such as asthenopia symptoms. Similarly, there is little information about constancy of the viewing conditions in which the reading exercises are assessed. The brain is excellent at removing "noise" from an image and everyone has the capacity to better discern a blurred image with time.'