Page 58 - The Indian Optician Digital Edition May-Junel 2022

REVOLUTIONARY

BIONIC EYE

IMPLANT

FOR UK PATIENT

n a ground-breaking bionic eye implant,
an 88-year-old woman from Dagenham
Iin the UK became the first patient to
detect signals electronically for the first
time since going blind in her left eye. A
grandmother of eight, the woman from
east London suffers from geographic
atrophy, a dry age-related macular
degeneration (AMD). Millions of people
worldwide suffer from this condition that
can cause loss of sight.
DR MAHI MUQIT
The implant offers the hope of partially
restoring vision for people with geographic
atrophy (GA), which is the most common In this pioneering eye implant, a
form of dry age-related macular microchip was implanted to help partially
degeneration (AMD). This breakthrough restore the woman’s vision. During the
surgery will help address the condition surgery that took place in December last
that is progressive and currently has no year, a 2mm-wide microchip was inserted
treatment. Some 4.8% of those over 65 under the patient’s retina by surgically
years of age and 12% of those over 80 will creating a 'trapdoor' for placing the chip.
be affected by dry AMD while GA affects The patient wears a special pair of glasses
6.7% of the over 80s. that contains a video camera linked to a
small computer attached to her waistband,
thus making it possible for her to see.
The process starts with the help of
the chip that captures the visual scene
projected by the glasses and transmits it to
the computer. Instructions are sent back
to the camera with the help of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) algorithms that process
this information. The glasses focus on what
the AI perceives to be the main object in

54 THE INDIAN OPTICIAN MAY-JUNE 2022 REPORT