The liquid crystal technology, developed by Ghent University, has the potential to deliver SMS messages directly to the cornea.
Unlike other displays that use light-emitting diodes (LED) and can only display a small number of pixels, Ghent University’s liquid crystal technology makes use of the entire surface of the contact lens, allowing for an image or word to be displayed – or, as the university suggested, the lenses could act as adaptable sunglasses.
At the moment, it can only display simple symbols, but researchers are hoping to develop “fully autonomous electronic contact lenses”.
The liquid crystal technology, developed by Ghent University, has the potential to deliver SMS messages directly to the cornea
These next-generation solutions could be used for medical purposes, for example to control the light transmission toward the retina in case of a damaged iris, or for cosmetic purposes such as changing eye colour.
In the future, the display could also function as a head-up display, superimposing an image onto the user’s
normal view.
Chief researcher Jelle De Smet said the LCD contact lens was no longer science fiction.
“This will never replace the cinema screen for films. But, it may be interesting to show images, such as road directions or projecting text messages from our smartphones straight to our eye.”
