New technology 'may allow blind people to see'

Going blind is many people's biggest fear and conditions such as age-related macular degeneration cause millions of people a year to lose sight.

However, a new breakthrough may offer hope to people with visual impairment or even those who have fully lost their eyesight.

Expert in the US have created a new device which can replace the eyeball and enable the patient to see again.

Specialists at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center have engineered a new electronic eye which has helped one blind woman to see again after 37 years.

A 50-year-old woman who was diagnosed with a progressive blinding disease at age 13 has been implanted with an experimental electronic eye implant that has partially restored her vision, a development which opens up numerous possibilities for the future treatment of visual impairment.

The surgery was the first of its kind in the state and Dr Lucian Del Priore, who led the operation, told medical insurance customers that it was the first treatment aimed at restoring limited sight in people blinded by retinal disease.

"With this system, people who are functionally blind might begin to distinguish light from dark, recognise visual patterns, make out figures, see food on a plate and navigate in unfamiliar surroundings," he explained.

However, Dr Del Priore, who is a professor in the department of ophthalmology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a renowned ophthalmologist, added that the process is not yet all-encompassing.

He told those with affordable health insurance that people with glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, optic nerve disease or a history of retinal detachment have been excluded from the study.

"In its current form, the device won't restore full visual function - but if it dramatically reduces a patient's disability, that is a major advance," the expert said.

By James McCann

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