Bionic Eye Allows Woman To See For First Time In YearsGuest Contributor March 5, 2016 Technology No Comments

By Seth M

Bionic limbs and organs are starting to become more and more prevalent in modern medicine.  Numerous stories are popping up around the web about extraordinary people who have been granted a new sensory experience via the advances made in bionic technology.  Like the color blind man who was given the ability to ‘hear’ colors through a unique antenna attached to his brain stem.

And now, the woman who has been given back the gift of sight after receiving a bionic eye implant that works in coordination with a pair of glasses.

Carmen Torres, now 58 years old, began losing her eyesight when she was just eighteen years old.  A genetic disease, called retinitis pigmentosa, causes loss of eyesight over time.  At forty-five years old, Torres went completely blind.  But last November, she had surgery to install theArgus II Retinal Prosthesis System, which as you might have guessed, is an extremely complex operation.

The Argus II system works in tandem with a special pair of glasses that are equipped with a miniature camera.  The camera captures what is being seen and the data is sent to a small wearable computer that interprets it.  The deciphered images are then sent back to the glasses and then transmitted to the eye implant.

While Torres is the first person in the state of Florida to receive the treatment, there are about a hundred patients worldwide who have undergone the surgery.

Carmen notes that learning how to understand the images that were being transmitted to her was like learning an entirely new language.  But it didn’t stop her, and now, nine months later, she is fully rehabilitated, and enjoys stargazing at night.

Thanks to Expanded Consciousness for this article

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