Bionic eye for blindness?

• April 26, 2024

According to figures from the World Health Organization , in the world there are approximately 285 million people with visual disabilities and 39 million with total blindness; However, today there may be a solution in the case of patients who suffer retinitis pigmentosa.

This type of congenital blindness already has a treatment that can offer the opportunity to restore sight. The United States Food and Drug Administration has just approved the first device to implant in the retina with the aim of returning vision. The prosthesis, known as Argus II, has been developed by Second Sight Medical Products and is designed to replace the function of light-sensitive cells in the retina that have been destroyed by the retinitis pigmentosa

The retinitis pigmentosa is a group of genetic disorders that affect the ability of the retina to respond to light. This is a hereditary disease that causes a definitive loss of vision.

The Argus II is made up of special glasses, which are equipped with a video camera and a video processing unit that sends signals to a wireless receiver implanted in the eye.

This bionic eye is intended to replace the function of photoreceptor cells in the detection of light, which gradually degrades in the case of patients with retinitis pigmentosa

However, the Argus II does not work for all patients; only for those who have kept their sight up to six years of age. In addition, that this treatment is only available for people over 25 years.

This bionic eye could be the beginning of a new era, where diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and anus are an obstacle to the professional and emotional development of an individual.