Try closing one eye and keeping it closed for 10 years. Losing vision in one eye is severely debilitating for anyone, particularly for those who are active, engaged, and involved in the world.
Now, an 80-year-old British pensioner, Raymond Flynn, of Manchester, has become the world’s first bionic eye implant recipient. For Mr. Flynn, who had partial vision for the past decade, the bionic eye retinal implant has restored his central vision.
The technology used is known as the Argus II, covered in “Retinal Implants: Helping the Blind to See” by IndustryTap two years ago.
Flynn underwent a four-hour procedure carried out at the Manchester Royal I Hospital. Flynn’s partial blindness was the result of macular degeneration, which causes critical tissues in the eye to deteriorate and is most often associated with age.
Flynn’s new retinal implant converts images from a camera mounted on his glasses to electrical signals that are transmitted wirelessly to electrodes attached to his retina.
