Bionic Eye Promises to Restore Sight to the Blind

Recently a group in London has performed surgery on two men in their fifties to equip them with a 'Bionic Eye'. This eye partially restores eyesight by implanging tiny metal plates studded with electrodes into the retina. While promising, this technique called Argus II, does not completely restore eyesight. Instead it provides the patient with vision of light and dark outlines. However, this is immensely better than being completely blind. This was the first time that the surgery has been perforemed in the UK. The Argus II was developed by Second Sight, an American company. The system involves a camera is attached to a pair of eyeglasses. The camera transmits a wireless signal to the electronic receiver and electrode panel implanted in teh eye. The system is powered by a battery pack that the patients wear on their waist. The electrodes stimulate retinal nerves, which in turn send signals to the optic nerve and subsequetnly the brain. These devices are quite pricey and have been estimated at about £15,000. However, US trials have been successful and it is predicted that these devices will be readily availiable in about three years.
This is an extremely revolutionary and important area of bioengineering. Restoring sight to the blind is one of the classic problems that engineers have been trying to solve for years, and now we seem to be much closer. One of the interesting things about the article was that they only performed surgery on patients diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease that becomes progressively worse over time. While this disease affects over 25,000 people in the UK it would be nice to find a cure for all blindness rather than only one.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=37619