Eyeing the Future: Bionic Eye Offers Hope to the Blind
Eyeing the Future: Bionic Eye Offers Hope to the Blind
Editor's note: In February 2013, the FDA approved the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, colloquially referred to as the bionic eye. The first device approved in the United States to treat a certain cause of blindness, it allows patients with retinitis pigmentosa to see patterns of light that the brain learns to interpret as specific objects. To patients like Larry Hester, who has been blind for more than three decades, it provides a glimpse of the world he never thought he'd experience again. "It was so overwhelming," explained Hester of his first experience after being fitted with the device. "It's hard to put into words, because for the first time in 33 years I'm seeing light."
Hester's physician, Dr Paul Hahn, explained it this way: "It's not normal vision ... So these patients aren't going to be able to recognize faces. They can't drive. They're not going to be able to read a book. But what they do get is crude series of flashes of lights in a pixilated fashion that allow them to make better sense of their surroundings."
Editor's note: In February 2013, the FDA approved the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, colloquially referred to as the bionic eye. The first device approved in the United States to treat a certain cause of blindness, it allows patients with retinitis pigmentosa to see patterns of light that the brain learns to interpret as specific objects. To patients like Larry Hester, who has been blind for more than three decades, it provides a glimpse of the world he never thought he'd experience again. "It was so overwhelming," explained Hester of his first experience after being fitted with the device. "It's hard to put into words, because for the first time in 33 years I'm seeing light."
Hester's physician, Dr Paul Hahn, explained it this way: "It's not normal vision ... So these patients aren't going to be able to recognize faces. They can't drive. They're not going to be able to read a book. But what they do get is crude series of flashes of lights in a pixilated fashion that allow them to make better sense of their surroundings."
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