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Bausch & Lomb has partnered with Nike to create the NIKE MAXSIGHT sport-tinted contact lens.  Time Magazine voted this lens as one of the best inventions of 2005. 
 
The NIKE MAXSIGHT sport-tinted contact lens is designed to improve vision while playing sports.  The tinted lens enhances key visual elements, such as a ball, or background, and filters out 95% of UVA and UVB and more than 90% of blue light.  This gives athletes a clearer view at all times thereby giving both professional athletes and the casual sports enthusiasts an edge when playing their chosen sport.
 
Being a contact lens, there is no obstruction from the frames or nosepiece of sunglasses.  There is also no light leakage as the lens rests directly on the eye, resulting in no squinting and so improving performance.
 
The NIKE MAXSIGHT lens works on a patented Light ArchitectureTM system, which selectively filters specific wavelengths of light within the visual spectrum to enhance key visual elements in sport such as a ball or background.  Removing virtually all of the blue light and manipulating the remaining colours of the visible spectrum enhance contrast and clarity.  While the tints reduce the overall light level for best visual comfort, they also create a perceived brightening or “wow” effect and contrast and clarity are enhanced, providing a decided advantage for any competitor.
 
Athletes can select between amber and grey-green lenses, depending on their sports needs or the light conditions.  Amber is designed for fast moving ball sports in variable light where it is critical to have the ball “pop” out against the background, such as football or tennis, while the grey-green lens is ideal for sports played in bright and shadowed sunlight where glare, comfort, and visibility of the environment are primary concerns, such as golf or running.
 
The NIKE MAXSIGHT lens is available both for those with vision correction needs and for those who do not need vision correction.
 
Every day on the field, on the court, on the course, athletes face challenges and as they rise to meet them, their eyes face challenges too.  Some of the challenges that their eyes face are:
·          Harmful UV and blue light from the sun.
·          Distracting glare.
·          Stress & fatigue as they squint, trying to see their sport better.
 
 
Studies by B & L have shown that the most important factors to athletes are:

1.       Health – athletes want their eyes to be protected.
 
2.       Comfort – athletes expect to have minimal eyestrain.
 
 
3.       Vision – adequate vision and quick reaction times.
 
 

1.  HEALTH

For ocular health in Performance Vision it is important to:

· Reduce UVA, UVB as UV penetrates and can damage most of the structures in the eye  

 (Fig. 1). Figure 1.  UV Penetration in the Eye

· Reduce visual fatigue
· Eliminate potential “Device” hazard
· Minimizes blue light hazard

The NIKE MAXSIGHT lens design eliminates 95% of UVA & 99% of UVB transmission.  The tint zone extends across entire diameter to eliminate light leakage around edges.
 
 2.  COMFORT

In order to achieve comfort in Performance Vision it is important to:
·          Reduced Glare
·          Reduced Visual Fatigue
·          Eliminate fogging, sweat
·          Reduce precipitation factors
·          Eliminate peripheral light leakage
·          Unrestricted Visual Field
·          Eliminate Visual Instability
·          Eliminate discomfort from spectacle fit
 
3.  VISION

Sports played in bright sunlight produce concerns with visual comfort due to glare.  Grey-Green enhances the green and red portions of the visual spectrum to improve detail and contour recognition. 

The grey-green tint is designed for outdoor sports where visual comfort and “visual stamina” are a primary concern.  There is increased contrast on contours for a better “read” of surface contours and decreased visual noise from peripheral glare.  This allows the eye to perceive more detail.

 
The amber tint is designed for use in sports where tracking a fast moving ball is critical.  Amber selectively filters specific wavelengths in the blue green portion of the visible spectrum, making the ball POP off the background.  

The amber tint is designed for fast moving ball sports such as football, tennis, cricket and rugby.  Reduced visual noise and a quicker transition between sun and shade allow the eye to see more.   With the increased contrast the ball “pops off” the background.

SCIENCE OF LIGHT ARCHITECTURE
 
More than 80% of the information we process about the world around us is visual.  Vision and visual cues are the leading sense in virtually all sports and activities.  By enhancing vision, athletic performance can be enhanced.

 
 

Figure 4.  Chromatic Dispersion

Chromatic dispersion is the separation of white light into its coloured components. The colour spectrum (Fig. 5) ranges from about 400 nanometers (violet) to about 700 nanometers (red)

Figure 5.  Colour Spectrum

The human eye has three types of colour receptors (Fig. 6):
·          Red (564 nm)
·          Green (533 nm)
·          Blue (437 nm)

 
 

Figure 6.  Colour Receptors in the Human Eye

Light at any wavelength in the range from 400 to 700 nm will excite one of these three colour receptors.  Colour perception is determined by which combinations of receptors are excited and by how much.

CHROMATIC ABERRATION

Chromatic Aberration is the inability of the ocular system to bring the various colours of light to focus at a single point (Fig. 7). 

Figure 7.  Chromatic Aberration

The human eye is capable of discerning the entire spectrum of colour because of the different wavelengths of light that make up the chromatic spectrum.  Part of the eye’s capability to see colour is due to the natural chromatic aberration that occurs when monochromatic light is focused on the retina.  Because of the differences of wavelength, different colours will refract through the ocular media with different focal points.  In a “relaxed” eye (devoid of accommodative flexibility), we can measure the difference in focal power between the shorter wavelengths (blue spectrum) vs. the longer wavelengths (red spectrum) as approximating almost 2.5 diopters of focal length (Fig. 8).
 
Because of this difference, the cone cells of the macula are “drawn” to the mid-range as the most comfortable and “sensitive” colours of the spectrum – these being the green wavelengths in the mid-range.

Figure 8.  Chromatic Aberration of the Eye

Chromatic aberration decreases the visual system’s potential speed of reaction to individual object’s colour, shape and speed differences across the range of wavelengths (Fig. 9).

      
      
Figure 9.  Chromatic Aberration and Reaction time

Chromatic aberration impairs the visual systems reaction speed.  By reducing chromatic aberration the difference of focus across range of wavelengths is decreased thereby potentially speeding up the reaction time.
 
The process of filtering some of the visible spectrum through the elimination of the transmittance of the smaller wavelength colours (blue) decreases the dioptric “spread” between the longer red wavelengths and the transmitted midrange greens (Fig. 10).  Although distorting the true colour of the field of vision, this decrease of the dioptric “spread” provides the visual system an opportunity to process the image faster, thus enabling a quicker response by the system, which can lead to faster reactions.

  Figure 10.  Reduced Chromatic Aberration with Light Filtration

 

THE IMPACT OF LIGHT FILTERS

Binocular vision is sensitive to small amounts of chromatic aberration and even sub-threshold levels of chromatic aberration can lead to measurable stereoscopic effects.

 
  Figure 11.  Impact of Light Filters

The figure below represents the colour reflectance characteristics of the NIKE Hi-VIS Soccer Ball, NIKE Golf Ball, and grass.

By decreasing chromatic aberration by filtering the Spectral Transmission Curve we are able to:
·          Enhances Contrast
·          Minimizes Visual Distraction
·          Speed Target Recognition
 
 

MAXSIGHT Grey-Green enhances the green and red portions of the visible spectrum & blocks the blue light to reduce glare.
 

MAXSIGHT Amber filters wavelengths in the blue green portion of the visible spectrum.
 

PARAMETERS

MATERIAL Polymacon

H2O CONTENT38%

BASE CURVE 8.8 (Equivalent)

DIAMETER 14.3mm

CENTRE THICKNESS 0.06 mm

POWERS (D)+4.00 to –6.00 (0.25 steps) & -6.50 to -9.00 (0.50 steps

REPLACEMENT Daily wear, Monthly Replacement

PACKAGING 6 pk