New research therapy being carried out at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, England, has seen two blind patients receive artificial eyes.
The eye is called Argus II and consists of a camera and processor mounted on glasses that can transmit data via a wireless signal to the wearer. An operation places an implant in the patient’s eye, connected directly to the retina, that consists of an electronic receiver and electrode panel. Any retinal nerves the patient has working are then stimulated by the panel and transmit information from the camera to hopefully form an image.
The best results the patients can hope for at this stage are outlines of objects, and there is no guarantee the process will work. The first two patients have just had the operations and are recovering in the hospital with the doctors saying it went well. Both patients are male, in their fifties and suffer from retinitis pigmentosa, which can be diagnosed in childhood and sees sight degrade over a number of years until the sufferer goes blind.
Mr Lyndon da Cruz, consultant retinal surgeon at Moorfields, carried out the operations with his team, he commented:
Moorfields is proud to have been one of only three sites in Europe chosen to be part of evolving this exciting new technology. The devices were implanted successfully in both patients and they are recovering well from the operations … It is very special to be part of a programme developing a totally new type of treatment for patients who would otherwise have no chance of visual improvement.
The Argus II has been developed by U.S. company Second Sight Medical Products Inc.
Although this treatment is still in the very early stages of its development, it’s encouraging to see that there may be a way to improve the lives of people who have gone blind in the near future.
Just seeing outlines may not sound like much of a sight to have, but when you can’t see anything at all it is obviously a huge improvement. Once they have established the technique works they may be able to improve the images transmitted to the brain making things clearer for the patients.
The ultimate is to produce perfect digital sight for the wearer, but whether that is possible will take a lot more research. It’s not beyond the realms of reason, however, that in the distant future a digital eye may in fact yield better sight for the wearer than your standard installed-at-birth model.