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If the lenses for your eyeglasses simply aren’t good enough, how bout some electronic lenses that do the focusing for you? That’s what Panasonic and PixelOptics have in store for 2011.

According to a recent press release sent out by Panasonic’s corporate site, the Japanese electronics co. is working with PixelOptics to build lenses for emPower!, PixelOptic’s electronically focusing glasses.

Ron Blum, President and CEO of Pixel said, “I am delighted to be able to make this announcement. Panasonic is an outstanding company, with a long history of being best in class in electronics and manufacturing. They will deliver for Pixel an outstanding electronic focusing lens product.”

Ron Blum further stated, “The lens product that will be manufactured by Panasonic will be an electronic semi-finished lens blank that is made out of 1.67 thin and lightweight optical grade plastic material having a very thin layer of liquid crystal buried beneath the front surface of the lens blank. This allows for virtually all prescriptions to be fabricated. Semi-finished lens blanks are an industry standard, having a known finished curvature on the convex side of the lens blank and being unfinished on the other side. However, prior to emPower! these standard semi-finished lens blanks had a static focus. This means that once shaped into the proper prescription or focus the prescription is frozen and is not capable of a change of focus. The emPower! electronic semi-finished lens blanks represents the first electronic semi-finished lens blanks in the world. The emPower! electronic semi-finished lens blanks are capable of dynamic focus and with appropriate processing into finished lenses are capable of changing focus from far to near while allowing clear vision  of  everything in between once fabricated to the wearer’s eyeglass prescription.”

The glasses are intended for those who have bifocal or progressive lenses. The  lenses instantly focus on objects when they are up close. They are powered by a rechargeable battery and have three modes of operation: automatic, manual on, and manual off.

This business venture is led by Panasonic’s healthcare department, Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd. Yukinori Okazaki, Chief Technology Officer of Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd. added “It is indeed a pleasure to have now passed this project on to the Business Unit of Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd.  to assist  Pixel  in  its  scale  up  and  manufacturing  needs.   emPower!  represents  a  major  step  forward  for providing  better  vision  correction  to  the  millions  of  patients  worldwide  who  are  afflicted  with presbyopia.   Presbyopia  is  a  very  common  vision  disorder  that  affects  individuals  at  approximately  40 years  of  age.   It  causes  these  individuals  to  have  trouble  focusing  on  objects  that  are  close  at  first  and then also at their finger tip distance a few years later on.”

The lenses and glasses combo are expected to hot the market in late 2011, early 2012. Check back here for more details as this story develops.