Retinal prostheses

• April 25, 2024

When there is no method to restore the view about sick eyes , the great hope of thousands and thousands of blind people is to recover it through a artificial implant .

Help artificial to view There are many, but not all fall into the concept of "artificial eye " or "Bionic eye " Nail glasses or some contact lenses they do not stop being artificial prosthesis what we use to see. But we understand that they are optical aids, that improve the image so that our eye "Natural" keep watching.

Closer to the concept are the intraocular lenses , precisely because they are internal prostheses and we are already anatomically and functionally modifying our visual system , but the principle is the same: we are improving the optical quality of the image that arrives in the retina .

The device is designed for people with acquired diseases of theretina  (retinitis pigmentosa , macular degeneration associated with age , etc), but the rest of the visual system it's okay.

It is about replacing to some extent the function of the photoreceptors , putting a small implant, a "plate" with the ability to stimulate neurons of the retina by means of small electric shocks.

Therefore, it is required that the retina is viable and that the disease affects mainly the photoreceptors . For this, surgery will be necessary to implant this system in the retina (currently he gets more behind her).

Before the implant retinal received the image from an external camera, today it seems that it gives better result that is the plate itself that acts as a receiver of light and transmitter of stimuli.

So that you know a little more about this procedure, in GetQoralHealth we present an explanatory video of this type of interventions:

The advantages are good in general, because this system of artificial vision could be used in almost all of blindness acquired, regardless of the cause.

The results are, to some extent, acceptable. The visual information is still quite limited; however, in cases of blindness total, the simple visual impressions obtained with this system, over time (the brain has to "relearn to see" in this way), allows the patient to decrease the degree of dependence .

Video Medicine: Retinal Prosthesis - Mayo Clinic (April 2024).