Page 60 - The Indian Optician Digital Edition May-Junel 2022
P. 60

Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a leading
                                                               provider of eye health services in the UK,
                                                               “Losing the sight in my left eye through dry
                                                               AMD has stopped me from doing the things I
                                                               love, like gardening, playing indoor bowls and
                                                               painting with watercolours.” She further added,
                                                               “I am thrilled to be the first to have this implant,
                                                               excited at the prospect of enjoying my hobbies
                                                               again and I truly hope that many others will
                                                               benefit from this too.”

                                                                 The patient will now go through a
                                                               rehabilitation programme to learn how to
           GLASSES BEING
           ADJUSTED                                            use the new vision that she has gained. The
                                                               study particularly aims at quantifying the
                                                               level of vision that is restored and the speed
                                                               at which the processing takes place. Once
                                                               the rehabilitation is complete, the patient will
                                                               potentially be able to recognise items as small
                                                               as words and be able to read again.
                                                                 This study is being led by Dr. Mahi Muqit,
                                                               consultant vitreoretinal surgeon at Moorfields
                                                               Hospital, honorary clinical lecturer at the UCL
                                                               Institute of Ophthalmology, and National
                                                               Institute of Health Research (NIHR) research
                                                               investigator. He shared his thoughts on this
                                                               exceptional operation, “This ground-breaking
                                                               device offers the hope of restoration of sight
                                                               to people suffering vision loss due to dry AMD.
                                                               The success of this operation, and the evidence
                                                               gathered through this clinical study, will provide
          the image. The glasses then project this focused     the evidence to determine the true potential of
          image as an infra-red beam through the eye to        this treatment.”
          the chip, which in turn converts this beam into
          an electrical signal. This electrical signal passes    A significantly positive impact can be
          through the retina cells and the optical cells into   expected in the lives of people suffering from
          the brain, where it is interpreted as if it were a   this condition, all thanks to this bionic chip.
          natural vision. Four to six weeks after the chip is
          inserted, it is tested by switching on the chip and
          that is what signals the patient to see.

             The patient received the Prima System
          device as part of the PRIMAvera study in
          France, a Europe-wide clinical trial for the new
          technology, backed by the National Institute of
          Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research
          Centre at Moorfields and the UCL Institute of
          Ophthalmology.
             The patient further shared her journey in
          a statement released by the Moorfields Eye                ALL IMAGES COURTESY MOORFIELDS EYE HOSPITAL



      56 THE INDIAN OPTICIAN  MAY-JUNE 2022                                                                REPORT
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