About Bionic Eyes

Technological advancements have provided ease to the blind by introducing bionic eyes. A bionic eye is an electronic eye that is artificially implanted in to the eye area. The main objective for coming up with this technology is to provide vision to the blind.

Science has made it possible by using technological devices such as Charged Coupled Device (CCD) cameras along with bionic eye implant. This implant is actually a small chip. Eye surgeons implant this chip behind the eyeball’s retina.

How It Works

Once the bionic eye is implanted in the eyeball of a blind person, it serves the purpose of the person’s retina. The bionic eye makes use of the retinal implant that is connected to a video camera. The purpose of this camera is to translate images into stimulating impulses. These electric impulses are used to activate the remaining cells of the retina that carry those signals back to the person’s brain.

The bionic eye adapts the functionality of the retina in this way. Similarly, it restores the sight of the blind person. However, it depends on the cause of blindness.

Who Will Benefit From Bionic Eyes?

Not all of the blind people will be able to benefit from implanting bionic eyes. This is because there are various causes of blindness. Although, scientists have made maximum use of technology to develop bionic eyes, it can be beneficial specifically for those people who had the following causes of blindness:

Retinitis Pigmentosa

This cause of blindness is said to be inherited among some people. Eye professionals say that retinitis pigmentosa can also strike in the early years of life. People who suffer from this eye disease experience symptoms such as, night blindness, blurry vision, extreme tiredness, and inability to adjust their eyes from light to dark environments.

Before the advent of bionic eye technology, patients suffering from this disease did not have any proper treatment. The only thing they could do to treat this disease was to consume a sufficient amount of vitamin A as directed by their doctor. But now, the bionic eye can benefit them and can help them with their vision.

Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration is an eye disorder that is mostly seen in older adults. As people age with time, they start having Macular degeneration. This is caused when the retina of their eye gets damaged slowly with the passage of time. Although patients with Macular degeneration can perform their daily activities, they are unable to recognize faces or read anything.

The Future of Bionic Eyes

When looking at the future of bionic eyes, researchers say that bionic eyes have taken a good start. They are optimistic that they will see more advancement in technology as far as the bionic eye is concerned.

Although the blind can get vision from implanting bionic eyes, there is still a lot to do in this field. The aim is to provide the best vision to the blind. In order to make the presence of bionic eyes more feasible to people at the mass level, scientists are working hard on its research. Furthermore, the major challenge for these researchers is to come up with specialized power that can run the bionic eye implant easily.

Another concern about implanting the bionic eye is that it will take many years for bionic eyes to even compete with biological eyes. This is because there can be numerous causes of blindness among people. For instance, people can get blind because of severe stroke, severe damage of the optic nerve, etc. But implanting bionic eyes into the eyeballs of these patients cannot give them back their vision.

In situations where technology has not reached a point where it can really provide perfect vision to people with eyesight issues, contact lenses can help them most. For instance, wearing Air Optix Aqua can enable them to have clearer vision without the need for any implant.

We are well aware of how advanced technology has benefited patients in terms of providing them artificial hearts, ears, and kidneys. These artificial organs are contributing positively to make people’s lives better. But when it comes to introducing new technology as such, bionic eyes for people with eyesight disorders, it will take many years to be superior to biological eyes.