- Sunday, 22 November 2009
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You may think Yes Minister is a comedy. I know it's a documentary - Peter Lilley
Geezer gets bionic eye
A 73-YEAR-OLD BRITISH MAN has been given the gift of sight after 30 years of total blindness.
Named only as Ron, the pensioner had surgery at London's Moorfield Eye Hospital and can now follow white lines on the road and even sort his socks, according to the BBC.
The bionic eye, known as Argus II, is mounted on a pair of natty wraparound shades and sends images wirelessly to a tiny receiver mounted on the ouside of the eyeball.
The receiever sends signals to an array of receptors mounted on the retina which send electrical impulses into the brain in the same way as a healthy eye.
Although the camera only sends patterns of light and dark, it is hoped that the recipient's brain will eventually learn to interpret the signals as meaningful images. µ
L'Inq
BBC
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I was born with strabismus and had surgery correcting the positioning of my eye back when I was 14 years old, but it was too late to gain normal vision because the brain simply cannot interpret the image. I've never had depth perception and cannot experience a 3D movie.
Still, I understand the gains made for the man with the bionic eye in just seeing light and dark. When I was 50, I had cataract surgery in both eyes (rare for someone my age). Surgery for my "blind" eye restored light and dark perception and surgery in my good eye restored me to normal vision. Until my vision was limited further, I'd never fully realized how much I needed light and dark perception in my blind eye.
Technology for artificial eyes has improved greatly, but the holy grail for restoring sight is getting the brain on board, getting our miraculous but imperfect biological computer to recognize restored sight or hearing and to intepret it correctly as with those born with normal senses.
Whats Marty Feldman got to do with having your eyesight restored?
Something to do with funny eyes i suppose.