Smart glasses are increasingly seen as the future of personal computing. But so far, an overwhelming majority has focused on aspects such as sharing on social media, turning on AI agents or media consumption. Soliddd wants to bring smart glasses to a challenging niche of medical science.
At CES 2025, the New York City-based company introduced SolidddVision data glasses. Soliddd claims this is “the first true vision correction for people living with vision loss due to macular degeneration.” Notably, these glasses do not require FDA approval and will hit the market later this year.
Macular degeneration is an age-related disease that prevents people from seeing what is directly in their line of sight and blocks their central vision due to degeneration of the macular region of the retina.
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Millions of people around the world suffer from dry and wet macular degeneration. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this, but there are some medications that can sometimes improve vision or simply halt the damage.
“We can enable vision in areas of the visual field where patients cannot otherwise see,” Neal Weinstock, founding CEO of Soliddd, said in the announcement. The results of a clinical study with the SolidddVision glasses also provide a positive outlook.
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The SolidddVision smart glasses are based on the VR concept and enable the restoration of vision for people with macular degeneration. Inspired by a fly's eye, these smart glasses use a proprietary lens arrangement that transmits multiple images to the still healthy retinal zone.
The trick is to let the brain “create a single, full-field image with good sharpness that feels like normal, sharp vision.” The entire system is a combination of patented optical design and software and delivers sharp views thanks to a parallel beam light field.
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There are two front-facing cameras to capture the world outside and an equal number of inward-facing cameras to image the eyes and track the gaze. The software combines the input video with eye mapping data, makes spatial adjustments, applies the necessary color correction, and transmits the final view to the internal display units.
The SolidddVision glasses are currently in beta testing, but the company is targeting a 2025 launch. So far, the SolidddVision glasses seem to be the most practically viable implementation of this wearable form factor, and that would be interesting to see where the technology goes.
