Self-tinting contact lenses are about to become a real thing that you can buy with real money.
Johnson & Johnson have been developing the new state-of-the-art contact lenses for the last few years and have finally created a contact lens that can darken almost instantly upon contact with direct sunlight.
Taking almost a decade to develop these photochromatic lenses can be reused for up to two weeks.
While it’s not clear which technology the company has employed it’s likely that due to the plastic construction of the contact lens it will be using organic photochromatic molecules.
If this is the case, inside each lens will contain an organic molecule that, when exposed to UV light, will undergo a chemical process that in turn increases the amount of light that the lenses absorb.
The process is completely reversible and Johnson & Johnson say that the transition between light to dark is “quick” and “seamless”.
Of course what it does mean however is that these will quite literally make your eyes appear much, much darker than they previously were. Johnson & Johnson haven’t provided any imagery of the lenses actually being worn either so that’s definitely something to consider.
According to the company they plan to start rolling them out in the US in the first half of 2019 and then globally shortly after that.