Surgeons in England have performed the world’s first bionic eye implant on a patient with a very common cause of sight loss.
The patient had dry age-related macular degeneration, this means over time the patient lost his central vision until it was completely gone.
An 80-year-old Manchester man, Ray Flynn, had only peripheral vision before the surgery, meaning he could not see things directly in front of him. But thanks to special glasses and a retinal implant in his eye, his sight is much improved.
The glasses hold a small camera that sends video images as electrical pulses to electrodes implanted at the back of his eye. The retina of the eye then passes this visual information on to his brain.
The surgeon who carried out the procedure, Professor Paulo Stanga said Mr Flynn is now seeing the outlines of people and objects very well.
Age-related macular degeneration affects at least half a million people in Britain alone so the bionic eye is a huge step forward in the medical world.
3 Responses
that is cool
cool i would like having that if i was blind…..
bob is cool