Mini-Telescope Implants May Save Vision Damaged by Eye Disease.
Many ophtalmologists believe in a new device that could stop or even reverse the advanced stages of macular degeneration. Macular degeneration is a disorder that causes a person to see a dark spot in the center of their field of vision. It is an age-related disease, that makes it difficult to read, watch TV, and recognize faces. This new device is a new miniture telescope, that would be implanted into the patient's damaged eyes.
Physicians could only try to reduce the risk of the disease, for there is no known treatment to fix the vision problem. They did this with special magnifying eyewear, checking it with laser treatments, and nutrtional supplements such as zinc and antioxidants.
The device works with the eye's cornea, basically allowing an image to appear at the area of diminished vision . It virtually would be undetectable inside the eye and mostly covered by the iris. The miniature telescope would not touch the back of the cornea, yet this is not easy, and surgeons are developing special techniques to keep the damage to the eye minimal.
In a study of 206 patients, 90% were able to read two lines on a reading chart, and 67% were able to see three lines basically doubling their vision. However these minature telescopes are not a cure for macular degeneration. Ophthalmologists are waiting for the approval of the FDA, so they can start implanting the device.
Respone: I found this article to be very interesting and informing. It opens a new window that I never knew existed, how a small telescope is able to be imlpanted in the eye and fix the vision of that person. The technology for this is amazing. With this we can take it and use it to learn more about other related topics. It's amazing how the telescope would fit in the eye and hopefully cause no discomfort. How excited someone would be to hear that there is a new device that would let them see again. I beleive the surgical procedure itself would be amazing to see how they get the telescope in the eye without further harming it.
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posted by Brie @ 3:15 PM
5 Comments:
I find it interesting how the mini-telescope would be placed inside the eye without damaging the eye. I wounder how the doctors came up with the idea of a mini-telescope to reverse the advanced stages of macular degeneration. I find it intriguing how the mini-telescope works with the cornea of the eye to produce the image that patient cannot see.I think that it is amazing how the body and technology can work together to help restore something that someone has lost.
It is amazing to see how far our generation has come with technology. I would have never thought that a telescope could fit in someone's eye without irritating it. I found it amazing the results at the end. 90% were able to read two lines on the reading chart! That is truly amazing.
this article on a telescope in the human eye would have seemed far -fetched a few years ago. such a small device being able to help people in such a great way is helpful however the 63% the saw double vision seems as if that would worsen the problem, that seems as if it would make it more dificult for the fda to approve. I think that this divice is a good idea, I would just be fearful about the affects if it doesn't work.
That is so crazy that there is a microscope small enough to fit into the eye. It is amazing that this microscope wouldn't irritate the eye. If this procedure happened to me, I feel like I would notice it just because I knew it was there. For people with macular degeneration, this discovery would give them some hope. Being able to gain back lost eyesight would be an amazing thing. If it were me, I could get over the fact that there is a microscope in my eye to be able to see again. The body accepts this implant as if it were part of the body itself. It allows for the microscope to help in the function of eyesight. It's cool that the body would work with the microscope, even though it isn't actually part of the body.
I think it is good that they are looking towards helping people but the process of a telescope in the eye sounds too problematic for me. I would like to see more scientific efforts in curing the deasise its self as apposed to just stoping the bledding. I just feel that there could be too many complications with this "eye telescope."
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