Many people tend to take something as basic as light for granted-not Larry Hester. He knows the feeling of its absence, and with his new bionic eyes, he rejoices over it.
The 66-year-old family man was one of the 7 people fitted with "bionic" eyes that allowed him to gain vision. It may not be the same seeing people with healthy eyes have, but using light and shadow contrast, he can already "see things."
Larry was only in his thirties when he developed an eye disease known as retinitis pigmentosa. It affects the retina, which is responsible for converting light to signals that can be interpreted by the brain. It is a very rare eye problem that affects only 1 in every 4,000 people in the United States.
However, it robbed him of the ability to see as the diseases progressed very quickly. Within months, he already lost his vision, and he lived with it for around 30 years.
However, through the help of Duke University Medical Center, he became the first recipient in North Carolina of a revolutionary device mainly for treating his disease: Argus II Retinal Prosthesis Device.
It's a new technology that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration on February 13, 2013. As a system, it is composed of three main parts.
First, doctors implant a small electronic device in the affected eye area, which will serve as the new retina. Then the patient has to wear a specially designed glassed with a small video camera. The camera is the one that "sees" the surroundings, capturing them into images. Lastly, the camera is connected to a processing unit that the patient has to carry anywhere he or she goes. This unit is responsible for converting the images into signals that will then be fed wirelessly to the implanted device, which will then be interpreted by the brain as flashes of light. If the object is dark, for example, the light flashes will be seen by the patient will be weaker.