Vision scientist David Williams presented his work at the summer meeting of the American Astronomical Society. He adapted technology that was originally developed by astronomers to capture better images of space and celestial objects. Williams uses technology known as adaptive optics, which astronomers use to sharpen telescope images by correcting for aberrations in the atmosphere. Adaptive optics have been implemented on several telescopes, including the giant Keck Telescope in Hawaii, resulting in remarkably crisp images. While adaptive optics may someday help patients approach that level, he says that acuity isn't the most noticeable improvement.
Adaptive optics improves eyesight most under low-light conditions, such as nighttime driving.
MacRae, the laser surgery expert, estimates that a driver sharing the road with a bicyclist at dusk could see the bicyclist from roughly twice as far away if he or she were equipped with adaptive optics correction. In the past, Williams has used the system to look into the eye. In a series of papers in such journals as Nature, Williams' team has published the best images ever obtained of the living human retina. Last year the team was able to differentiate the three types of cones in the living human retina. Detailed information of the eye is helpful to ophthalmologists monitoring patients with diseases like age-related macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy.