I’m sure it is one of the worst things that could happen, you have something only to lose it.
It is especially devastating when that something that you lose is your sight. To grow up in this life that accommodates that certain sense, never really understanding that it could be gone in a matter of years. This is what happens in the genetic disease called retinitis pigments. Patients that suffer with this inherited disease causing retina degeneration, start off with functioning sight then within time performance decreases to nothing and the patient is virtually blind within years. This is exactly what happened to Carmen Torres who began to lose her sight at the tender age of 18. She was deemed official blind at 45, and really lost complete hope of ever seeing again. It is crazy to think we are living in a time when Carmen Torres shouldn’t lose hope and actually has options of gaining back her sight.
The player that is changing the game is called Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System and only about 100 people across the globe have had this life-changing surgery allowing victims to gain back that sense they thought was lost forever. The technology basically works with a prosthetic and a signal receiving glasses laboring in tandem with each other. The glass captures images of what is being seen with a small camera built into the framework. The image is sent to a tiny wearable computer that is also on the glasses and transmits the image to the eye implant. Patients also undergo therapy to understand the images transmitted from the eye implant, which Torres explains is like learning a new language.
Still this new technology of the bionic eye is incredible and after rehabilitation, Torres also states can now see stars in the sky at night.
