Written By Despina
Contributing Optometrist
An article in the British optical press caught my eye today. The world’s first bionic eye, Argus 2, is waiting for approval by the National Health Service. In other words, the £150,000 price tag will be paid by the government and not the patient.
High myopia is one thing. Blindness is quite another. We’ve all used the expression, ‘ I’m so blind without my glasses’, and we’ve all played blind-fold games as children. But the reality of actual blindness and partial-sight is truly grim, and affects every aspect of one’s life.
So I decided to read up on Argus 2. A few years ago, this would have seemed like something out of a sci-fi film. It doesn’t come cheap, but it is a truly amazing device. It collects visual information from a camera worn by the patient and sends it to a microchip implant on the retina, which stimulates the optic nerve. It will restore a certain amount of vision for millions of people suffering from retinal diseases such as Retinitis Pigmentosa and Age-related Macula Degeneration, in which light-receptor cells are destroyed. The prosthesis replaces the function of these light-receptor cells.
It’s times like these that we should bow down to the world of ophthalmology and science. The prosthesis will not magically enable a person to read or drive, but they will be able to recognize family and friends, find their way around and spot moving objects, and enjoy an all-round better quality of life.
