Experts Hail 'Remarkable' Success of Electronic Implant in Restoring Sight (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0179836596
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/10/20/1651237/experts-hail-remarkable-success-of-electronic-implant-in-restoring-sight
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/oct/20/experts-hail-remarkable-success-of-electronic-implant-in-restoring-sight
The microchip measures two millimetres by two millimetres and is implanted beneath the center of the retina. Patients wear augmented reality glasses containing a camera that projects images onto the chip. The device converts light into electrical pulses transmitted to the brain.
Frank Holz, the study's lead author and chair of ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Bonn, called the implant "a paradigm shift in treating late-stage age-related macular degeneration." Mahi Muqit, a consultant at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, said the trial enabled "meaningful central vision restoration, which has never been done before." The procedure takes less than two hours and requires intensive rehabilitation. Science Corporation, which manufactures the device, has applied for clinical authorization in the United States and Europe.
[1] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2501396
Mr. LaForge (Score:2)
Make it so!
Ok this is cool but not as crazy as (Score:3)
When I learned since the 1960's there is a sight restoring procedure that involves using a tooth as a vision device. They take a removed tooth, grow tissue on it in your cheek, drill a hole in it, install a lens and then implant it into your eyeball.
[1]Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis [wikipedia.org]
[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] (Warning, graphic eye surgery)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DfugbHQmmQ
Re: (Score:2)
That is crazy indeed. But what I don't fully understand is why the tooth is necessary to making it work (just based on reading the wikipedia entry). Isn't it effectively a way to implant an artificial lens for which the tooth is the housing? But why can't the housing just be made out of titanium or some other artificial material?
Re: (Score:2)
I believe on the video I saw about this was that the tooth is an ideal scaffold of sorts to build tissue and hold the lens onto and it wont deal with rejection issues. It's just crazy that it works.
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-kGu8sbhIY
Display from camera? (Score:2)
Can I have the thermal & night vision add-on pack please?
So, support lifecycle? (Score:5, Informative)
Will these ones retain vendor support longer than [1]the last batch [ieee.org]?
[1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/bionic-eye-obsolete
Re: So, support lifecycle? (Score:2)
Seems like they should be forced to create a fund to continue to support the patients even if they go bankrupt.
Re: (Score:3)
The problem with that approach is that it heavily disincentivizes research into these areas because it adds additional costs to something that is already very expensive to develop. A better approach is to require that the abandoned systems have any hardware or software source code opened so that maintenance is possible. If a company is abandoning something they shouldn't care if anything related to it becomes free and open. If it were worth anything they could have sold it.
So just let the government do it (Score:1)
The real problem here is we turn everything into a for-profit Enterprise even things that very obviously shouldn't be.
Capitalism works great for things where there's lots and lots of competition. Assuming you have a referee in the form of bureaucrats enforcing antitrust laws.
But you just aren't going to get a lot of competition for something this specialized. That's why it's such a big deal. We already can see the free market isn't going to step up for these patients.
At some point we need out of
Re: (Score:1)
At some point we need out of the box thinking
How about we open-up the pool of things advertisers pay for to include things which have widely-acknowledged societal benefit?
Looking-through-the-window-at-another-box thinking?
Re: So, support lifecycle? (Score:1)
Use the term "escrow" for the software and hardware documentation so that lawyers and legislators understand how to assure necessary upgrades and support if the company flops without excess expense for their company developing the product.