menu
FR | EN
Medical assistance
Certified Medical Tourism ProfessionalBest Medical Travel Agency 2015Best use of technology in Medical Travel 2017

Bionic Eye Allows Man to See for the First Time in Over 10 Years

02/03/2015

Allen Zderad was affected by a degenerative eye condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, which left him unable to see anything apart from bright light. He was effectively blind. His condition meant that he had to give up work and as the condition has no cure, the future was looking grim for Allen.

However, despite changing his lifestyle to cope with the fact that he was effectively blind, he was still able to continue working with wood due to his sense of touch and spatial awareness.

But now, with his new bionic eye, Alan can make out the outlines of objects and people. It works by bypassing the retina which is affected by the disease and sends light directly to the optic nerve. It really is bionic, with a small chip now attached to the back of Alan’s eye, which boasts 60 stimulation points.

For it all to work, Alan has to wear a pair of special glasses that are attached to the device on the retina. These glasses have a built-in camera which sends images to a small computer he wears around his waist. This computer processes them and transmits them to his retina and brain.

While the bionic eye doesn’t allow Alan to see perfectly, it has given him a new lease of life and he can now navigate his way across crowded rooms without the need for a cane.

expand_less