Scientists from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles have fitted three blind people with a groundbreaking retinal implant that could help to restore some of their vision. Professor Mark Humayun and colleagues reported at the the meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology that the three patients fitted with the implant have managed to see and decipher pictures sent to the implant by video camera. However, the patients have not yet seen the objects as we would “see” them with our eyes as the images were sent directly to the implant. The implant, which measures four by five millimetres, converts visual signals into an image that is then transmitted to any remaining healthy retinal cells via 16 electrodes. Tests of the implant conducted on one patient, showed that the implant restored enough vision to enable the person to distinguish between objects such as a plate and a cup.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.bbc.co.uk on the 8th May 2003.
