“Bionic Eye” Offers Hope For The Blind

It was a Jew who walked the land of Israel some two thousand years ago who did phenomenal miracles such as restoring sight to the blind and letting the lame walk, and technology has somewhat caught up, so to speak, with letting the blind see again in this century. Roger Pontz, who is suffering from a degenerative eye disease that robs him of his vision in due time, has been wearing a special pair of glasses that feature a tiny video camera (hmmm…sounds familiar?) that will transmit images sans wires to Pontz’ retina.

This particular act would see the images recorded by the camera being converted into a series of electrical pulses, finally arriving at the electrodes on the surface of Pontz’ retina, which in turn will be able to “send” such “data” via the optic nerve to the brain. In other words, Pontz’ will be able to “see”. Pontz shared his experience, “It’s awesome. It’s exciting – seeing something new every day.”

This 55-year-old former competitive weightlifter and factory worker is a blessed soul – he happens to be just one of four people in the U.S. to be on the receiving end of an artificial retina ever since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave its nod of approval last year. Hopefully such technology will be come affordable enough for the masses in due time. While it is not a real bionic eye per se, it still is a leap in technological achievement.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Medical
Tags: Science