Scientists have come up with an exciting new way for the blind to see. They are calling it the bionic eye.
CBS news reports on the bionic eye.
The bionic eye can be implanted into the eye of folks who cannot see. The bionic eye is being administered to blind patients through a high tech surgical procedure.
One Michigan man who has been blind for many years went through the procedure and is ecstatic about his new vision. He told the press, “It's awesome. It's exciting - seeing something new every day.” The man’s wife also described how thrilling it is for her to see her husband have his vision back, “I said something I never thought I'd say: 'Stop staring at me while I'm eating.’ What's it worth to see again? It's worth everything.”
Many people who are electing to have this surgery have been suffering from degenerative eye diseases. “Retinitis pigmentosa is an inherited disease that causes slow but progressive vision loss due to a gradual loss of the light-sensitive retinal cells called rods and cones. Patients experience loss of side vision and night vision, then central vision, which can result in near blindness,” according to CBS.
The bionic eye is a unique contraption. CBS explains, “The artificial implant in Pontz's left eye is part of a system developed by Second Sight that includes a small video camera and transmitter housed in a pair of glasses. Images from the camera are converted into a series of electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. The pulses stimulate the retina's remaining healthy cells, causing them to relay the signal to the optic nerve. The visual information then moves to the brain, where it is translated into patterns of light that can be recognized and interpreted, allowing the patient to regain some visual function.”
