SOMEWHERE in the laboratories in One-North in Buona Vista, there are some bunnies wearing contact lenses.
These rabbits are helping out in laboratory tests to test a new homegrown contact lens that "self-lubricate".
After the bunny tests end in October this year, researchers will move on to testing the lenses in human patients.
So far, there are no side-effects on the rabbits, the head researcher from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Dr Edwin Chow, told me in an interview two weeks ago. Barring a major problem, it seems that these lenses will reach us soon.
This is great news for me, someone who has worn glasses from the age of three – and has given up on contact lenses thrice.
Even for the hottest date or closest friend’s wedding, I could not stand to have contact lenses in my eyes.
The lenses made my eyes itchy, painful, and dry. Worse still, my vision would blur, and I’d be left blinking or winking rapidly (hopefully not at the wrong person), trying to bring some vision back.
A bottle of eyedrops became my best friend, and woe betide me if they had reached the expiry date or if I forgot to take them out with me.
The latest lenses these days, that I succumbed to buying two weeks ago, are a lot more comfortable, and have some “hydrating” features built into them, but on bad days when I’m staring at a computer screen all day, the blurred vision returns.
Users with dry eyes like me, all 40 million or so of us worldwide, are still hunting for that perfect solution, that won’t involve any cuts or pain or inconvenience.
Of course, I hope these lenses will be it, and that being homegrown technology they will be cheaper for consumers as well.
That said, I suppose not everyone will find them suitable for their eyes.
But either way, I’m rooting for the rabbits.