Posted on 02/24/2015 9:06:13 AM PST by SeekAndFind
A Minnesota man saw his wife for the first time in 10 years— and most of his grandchildren for the first time ever— after receiving a bionic eye at the Mayo Clinic earlier this month, ValleyNewsLive.com reported.
Allen Zderad, 68, has retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative, genetic eye disease that affects the part of the retina that translates light into sight. The condition progressively stole the Forest Lake man’s vision over the course of his life. Zderad uses a cane to walk and has leaned on his wife, Carmen Zderad, as his sighted guide since losing his ability to see.
“Ten years,” Zderad told Valley News Live of the last time he saw his wife, “but I still kiss her with my eyes closed.”
Zderad is the 15th person to receive the “Second Sight Argus II” retinal prosthesis system, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for implantation in January 2014. The technology reportedly took 25 years and an estimated $300 to $500 million to develop.
Implanting the bionic eye involves the insertion of 60 electrodes into the retina. Zderad’s surgery took about three hours and, two weeks later, he can now see with the artificial vision.
"It's a bionic eye— in every sense of the word. It's not a replacement for the eyeball, but it works with interacting with the eye, Rayond Iezzi, the Mayo Clinic retinal surgeon ophthalmologist who chose Zderad as the first Minnesotan to receive the bionic eye, told Valley News Live.
“Mankind has been seeking to cure blindness for 2,000 years or more,” Iezzi added, “but only in the past quarter of a century have we had the electronics and the packaging and all the other things come together to build a retinal prosthesis that could restore sight to the blind."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
https://boydfuturist.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/bionic-eye-vision-australia-image2.jpg
You have to walk before you can run.
My Late Aunt was blinded by Glaucoma in her early 20’s. There was no treatment outside of removing the Eyeballs to reduce the pain.
She worked for a living, sewing garments and she complained much less than the typical Liberal in today’s America.
If there was a way she could have seen something, even a blurry image before her death at age 89, I would have done anything I could do to make that happen for her.
I find your comment a bit flippant. God Bless the person that can help the Blind to See.
There was a time when people were blinded by Cataracts. In fact, my Blind Aunt’s Grandfather was blinded by Cataracts.
The first available Cataract “treatment” simply removed the natural Lenses from the Eye and allowed very limited sight. Then they invented implantable Lenses which made things better when paired with very thick corrective Glasses. Nowadays, we not only have single vision implantable lenses. we have adjustable ones that mimic the Natural Lenses function.
People go in for Cataract Surgery and are released from the Hospital a few hours later. It is amazing, but it hasn’t always been that way. It took decades of study to get us where we are today. The same applies to Retinal Surgery, and my 92 Year Old Father has had both of those Surgeries.
remember, as Stan Laurel once said to Perry Como, "Judge ye not the quality of a man's sheer overwhelming accuracy abd brilliance of information by the quality of his flippancy, Howdy." :)
Norman Rockwell was a fantasy.
My Aunt was a real person who dealt with Blindness for over 65 Years of her life and strived to live as normal a life as possible. I would hope you are being facetious, but...
:( - really? What the hell is that about?
You’re a real Peach my FRiend. Howdy yourself.
Don’t bother Posting back to me unless you are apologizing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.