Camera helps blind people regain vision
A company's vision restoration system for the blind, consisting of cameras and electrodes in the eye, is being tested in the US and Europe.
Argus II, the name of the vision restoration system for the blind, is an invention of the company Second Sight in California, USA. Each one is sold for $100,000. The system includes 60 electrodes implanted in the user's eyes, a camera with a signal transmitting function mounted on the glasses, AFP reported.
The Argus II works like this: The camera on the glasses captures images in front of the user and converts them into electrical signals. The electrical signals are then transmitted from the camera to an electrode array in the user's eye.
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Sixteen have just been approved for use in Europe. Sixteen are being tested in the US. Among the users is Elias Konstantopoulos, a 72-year-old former electrician.
Born in Greece, Konstantopoulos came to the United States as a young man and became an electrician. At age 43, Konstantopoulos found that he could no longer see his arms if they were extended beyond his shoulders. When he visited an ophthalmologist, the electrician was told that his peripheral vision was gradually deteriorating.
Doctors said Konstantopoulos had retinitis pigmentosa. This genetic, incurable disease affects about 100,000 Americans. People with the disease gradually lose rods and cones—the two types of light-sensitive cells—in their retinas until they become completely blind.
About 10 years later, Konstantopoulos’s vision deteriorated to the point where he could no longer work. Five years ago, he became completely blind. “If you lose your vision, you lose almost everything,” the 72-year-old said.
In 2009, Konstantopoulos’s doctor asked him if he wanted to participate in a trial of the Argus II system. He nodded eagerly. Konstantopoulos says the procedure took about three hours and was painless. Afterward, no one would have noticed that he had electrodes unless he told them.
Now every morning Konstantopoulos puts on his camera-equipped glasses and stands near a window or patio, waiting for the sound of a car. When a car passes by, the old electrician says he can see it as a mass of light.
The 72-year-old man can now distinguish colored objects from their surroundings, navigate a room, and open windows and doors. He also trains with a specialist once a week. The exercises include tracking moving objects on a computer screen and identifying shapes. His vision has improved and he can do a lot of things around the house on his own.
"The thing I'm looking forward to the most is seeing my grandson's face. I've never seen his face," Konstantopoulos said.
According to VnExpress
