Tuesday, May 3, 2005
MaxSight: Performance-Enhancing Contact Lenses
Filed under: Ophthalmology
, Sports Medicine
Medgadget reader Irina B. informs us about a new type of performance enhancer that is making its way into professional sport. From a story at FOXSports about MaxSight lenses:
Known as performance-enhancing contact lenses, they were designed to help hitters pick up the seams on the ball better and to protect the eyes from the sun."They're almost like wearing sunglasses without wearing sunglasses," Roberts says. "I could tell such a huge difference right away that I was willing to give them a shot." Seven years in the making by Nike and Bausch & Lomb, the lenses--which will be known in the retail world as MaxSight--are so new they have made their way only into a few major league clubhouses so far.
Roberts, the Orioles' leadoff hitter and second baseman, is the only player the Sporting News could confirm is wearing them in games. Reds center fielder Ken Griffey has tried them in batting practice and plans to break them out for real once he becomes more comfortable with them. Reds closer Danny Graves also is wearing them during pregame work. Red Sox pitchers Bronson Arroyo and Mike Timlin and Twins catcher Joe Mauer have been fitted.
Tennis player Roger Federer and several D.C. United soccer players have agreed to try them. The University of Miami has 20 athletes on its football, baseball, tennis and track teams wearing them. The lenses also come in gray-green for golfers, and a set for night use is in the final stages of development.
But for now, the version that's part orange and yellow with a hint of red--amber, to be precise--remains mainly in the testing stages for the pros.
Roberts doesn't wear them all of the time, so don't credit his hot start solely to his high-tech eyewear. His amber set is of no use at night, when he plays most of his games. But none of the dozen or so players who had been fitted by last week has turned them back in.
"It helps your eyes relax instead of squinting all the time," Graves says, "and that helps relax the rest of your body."
These lenses are co-developed by Nike and Bausch & Lomb.
More at FOXSports...
The story at SportingNews.com...
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