New Prosthetic Restores Vision to Blind Mice

Researchers have developed a new prosthetic technique that can restore vision to blind mice. The approach could potentially be further developed to improve sight in blind people, according to the National Eye Institute. More than 20 million people worldwide have vision loss or blindness because of retinal degenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. These diseases gradually damage photoreceptors, the light-detecting cells in the retina. Ganglion cells, which deliver signals to the brain for processing, are usually spared. One promising approach to restoring lost vision is through prosthetic devices. Current prosthetics create a detour around damaged photoreceptors and directly stimulate ganglion cells, allowing patients to see spots of light and edges. This improves the ability to see light and shapes, but vision is still limited. Read more.

New Retinal Prosthesis Could Restore Sight

Retinal Prosthesis

"Scientists here have developed an innovative retinal prosthesis that may someday restore sight to those who have lost their vision due to certain types of degenerative eye disease," according to Stanford University's Scope. "While similar devices require coils, cables or antennas inside the eye to transmit power and information to the retinal implant, the Stanford device uses near-infrared light to deliver images making the device thin and easily implantable." Read more.