Bionic Eye A Reality?

Science gets a gold star for Awesomeness today.  In a step bringing us just a bit closer to becoming cybernetic super-humans, the FDA approved an implantable miniature telescope which can be used to help patients with an eye condition known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

AMD is a progressive disease affecting the retina, the back part of the eye that recieves the images and converts them into neural signals the brain can understand.  Over time, the center portion of the retina can break down and lead to blindness.

Blindness in the center of the visual field, that is.  Peripheral vision stays somewhat intact.  But since the center of the visual field is where your focus (and ability to see detail) is, patients with AMD have trouble reading, driving, and recognizing faces.  It’s having a blind spot, right in front of you.

Now there’s a little telescope that can be implanted in the eye to restore some of that vision, by re-directing images from the blind spot to a part of the retina that still works.  It’s got to be seriously weird at first and take a while to get used to, but one study showed 90% of the people with the implant were able to increase their visual function with the device.

There is a downside.  Jamming a chunk of metal onto your eye is going to create some side effects, and in this case, damage to the cornea sometimes occurs as a result of the implant.  Still, this is a huge leap forward for a progressive condition for which there was little or no hope previously.  So, way to go, Science!

Source:  http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm218066.htm