Originally published August 6 2005
Contact lenses can help enhance your game
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Outdoor athletes and exercisers might start singing "I can see clearly now," later this summer, in response to a quantum leap in contact lens technology.
Roberts has been testing a new type of prescription contacts developed jointly by Nike Inc. and eye-care-products maker Bausch & Lomb Inc.
Nike's $20 tinted lenses, which go on sale next month, are the latest entry in the $104.7 billion sporting-goods market.
They are targeting athletes in sports such as golf, tennis and soccer who have been reluctant to use sunglasses because of fogging, scratching or the simple annoyance of wearing eyeglasses.
The lenses require a prescription and fitting by an eye doctor, even for those with 20/20 vision.
About half of the athletes who have worn the lenses have never worn corrective eyeglasses or contact lenses before, the company says.
Sport-sunglasses makers including Oakley Inc. have long used similar technology embedded in their glass lenses.
People with astigmatisms, or oblong-shaped eyes, should consult with their doctors because the Nike lenses haven't been developed specifically for astigmatism.
"I wouldn't rule out the potential for improvement but sports performance is a complex issue," says John Corzine, chief of contact lenses at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry.
Nike's MaxSight Sport-Tinted Contact Lenses red-colored version cuts blue light to make a fast-moving ball stand out more clearly, the company says.
"When I first put them on, it was the last day of spring training and it was bright and sunny, and it was just perfect because guys at the plate couldn't see anything when they were hitting," Roberts, a second baseman who leads the American League in hitting, wrote in an e-mail.
For Bausch & Lomb and eye doctors, the contacts are a chance to broaden sales.
Initially, sales will be limited to about 350 optometrists and ophthalmologists, some of whom will listed on the company's and a Nike Web site.
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