Bionic Eyes are now reality

Bottesini

Bottesini

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A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye.

Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital.

He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II.

It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye.


My one ambition at the moment is to be able to go out on a nice, clear evening and be able to pick up the moon
Ron
In turn, the receiver passes on the data via a tiny cable to an array of electrodes which sit on the retina - the layer of specialised cells that normally respond to light found at the back of the eye.

When these electrodes are stimulated they send messages along the optic nerve to the brain, which is able to perceive patterns of light and dark spots corresponding to which electrodes have been stimulated.

The hope is that patients will learn to interpret the visual patterns produced into meaningful images.

The bionic eye has been developed by US company Second Sight. So far 18 patients across the world, including three at Moorfields, have been fitted with the device.


FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME

More from Today programme
It is designed to help people, like Ron, who have been made blind through retinitis pigmentosa, a group of inherited eye diseases that cause degeneration of the retina.

The disease progresses over a number of years, normally after people have been diagnosed when they are children
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This might be hope for people with Usher's syndrome. I remember Pinky especially is interested in it.

BBC NEWS | Health | Bionic eye gives blind man sight
 
this is definitely good news for people like me who have retinopathy of prematurity/rop.
 
I wonder if some people that are blind view this the same way that some deaf people view the CI as a sort of cultural genocide. Is there such a thing as "blind culture"?
 
I'll believe it when I see it. I don't like these things. A lot of this is just make believe. You know. Like Santa and the tooth fairy.

I've learnt to accept my deafblindness. I don't want a cure for that. They should spend all that money they squander on reserach on equiping all deafblind people with special computer and training.
 
dreama said:
I'll believe it when I see it. I don't like these things. A lot of this is just make believe. You know. Like Santa and the tooth fairy.

I've learnt to accept my deafblindness. I don't want a cure for that. They should spend all that money they squander on reserach on equiping all deafblind people with special computer and training.
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So you rather to live on no hope?

There is always hope! This man said it has happened to him. I would love to see this move forward.



Botts thanks for this post. I will keep tabs on this. :)
 
I'd rather hear the truth.

We lived on hope while mother was dying of cancer. We were told she would live to be 80. She died when she was 60. We were told she was cured twice. As if.

If only we had been told she was dying right at the begginning things could have been done differantly. I would have been there at her bedside but nobody told me that was neccessary until after she was gone. Because of all that false hope we were fed with. I think false hope is worse then no hope at all.
 
dreama said:
I'd rather hear the truth.

We lived on hope while mother was dying of cancer. We were told she would live to be 80. She died when she was 60. We were told she was cured twice. As if.

If only we had been told she was dying right at the begginning things could have been done differantly. I would have been there at her bedside but nobody told me that was neccessary until after she was gone. Because of all that false hope we were fed with. I think false hope is worse then no hope at all.
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False hope? Sorry about your Mother. But the researches are continuing.

A lot of medical marvels have followed through.

You can not just be bitter on one case.

And I understand they usually tell a person that they are free of cancer at the time, but not cured. Doctors always tell you of a chance of remission.

This is why I am so head strong about promoting the HPV shots. It is a start.

Again I am sorry about your mother. I am sure you love her very much. But you can not allow that bitterness get in the way of having hope, that one day they will find a cure. :aw:
 
rockdrummer said:
I wonder if some people that are blind view this the same way that some deaf people view the CI as a sort of cultural genocide. Is there such a thing as "blind culture"?
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Deaf people, historically, get cut off from society so as a result Deaf culture was born with its own language.

I can't speak for blind people if they have a culture or not.
 
shel90 said:
Deaf people, historically, get cut off from society so as a result Deaf culture was born with its own language.

I can't speak for blind people if they have a culture or not.
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Me personally. I would go for an eye implant, before a CI.

probably because I have already accepted my deafness. But, yet have accepted the fact that I am losing my vision.
 
dreama said:
I'll believe it when I see it. I don't like these things. A lot of this is just make believe. You know. Like Santa and the tooth fairy.

I've learnt to accept my deafblindness. I don't want a cure for that. They should spend all that money they squander on reserach on equiping all deafblind people with special computer and training.
Click to expand...

It is happening right now. Eighteen people are already successfully using it.
 
The Argus II is a minuscule artificial eye that attaches to the retina via 60 electrodes. Stephen Rose, chief research officer at the Foundation Fighting Blindness, says it has “great potential for giving vision to people with the most advanced retinal disease.” With the second phase of human trials underway, expect production models this year

Argus II artificial eye - Features | Galleries | Technology | Gadgets - MSN Tech & Gadgets UK

36A54B10A64B30BE2D1BF8EABB3F.jpg
 
Mission: Second Sight ® Medical Products, Inc., located in Sylmar, California, was founded in 1998 to create a retinal prosthesis to provide sight to patients blinded from outer retinal degenerations, such as Retinitis Pigmentosa. Through dedication and innovation, Second Sight's mission is to develop, manufacture and market implantable visual prosthetics to enable blind individuals to achieve greater independence.

Device: The device consists of a tiny camera and transmitter mounted in eyeglasses, an implanted receiver, and an electrode-studded array that is secured to the retina with a microtack the width of a human hair. A wireless microprocessor and battery pack worn on the belt powers the entire device.

The camera on the glasses captures an image and sends the information to the video processor, which converts the image to an electronic signal and sends it to the transmitter on the sunglasses. The implanted receiver wirelessly receives this data and sends the signals through a tiny cable to the electrode array, stimulating it to emit electrical pulses. The pulses induce responses in the retina that travel through the optic nerve to the brain, which perceives patterns of light and dark spots corresponding to the electrodes stimulated. Patients learn to interpret the visual patterns produced into meaningful images.

Second Sight’s first generation Argus 16 implant consists of a 16 electrode array and a relatively large implanted receiver implanted behind the ear. The second generation Argus II is designed with a 60 electrode array and a much smaller receiver that is implanted around the eye.




Company: Second Sight is a privately held company and receives substantial financial support from the U.S. federal government.

www.2-sight.com
 
WOW! :jaw:

I will definitively keep tabs on this, and time will tell.

Just amazing how technology is improving.

I love new discoveries.

:ty: Botts.
 
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