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Subject: living in the dark
Replies: 14 Views: 629

bozzalad 13.07.19 - 11:11am
A cure for blindness: Father, 35, who suddenly lost his sight aged nine is among six patients to have their vision restored by pioneering treatment that beams images directly into the brain

Five men and one woman have regained vision after years of living in the dark
They had electrode chips planted in the visual cortex at the back of their skulls
These picked up images from a tiny video camera mounted in a pair of glasses
One of the participants, Benjamin James Spencer, who went blind aged nine, described his joy at seeing his wife and three daughters for the first time

Doctors have restored sight to the blind by sending video images directly to the brain.

In a world-first that offers hope to millions of patients, five men and one woman have regained vision after years of living in the dark.

They had electrode chips planted in the visual cortex at the back of their skulls that picked up images from a tiny video camera mounted in a pair of glasses. Their eyes were bypassed completely * +

bozzalad 13.07.19 - 11:12am
One of the participants, Benjamin James Spencer, who went blind aged nine, described his joy at seeing his wife and three daughters for the first time. It is awe inspiring to see so much beauty, the 35-year-old told the Daily Mail last night. I could see the roundness of my wifes face, the shape of her body.

I could see my kids running up to give me a hug. It is not perfect vision it is like grainy 1980s surveillance video footage. It may not be full vision yet, but its something.
It was September 18, 1992, a week after my birthday, he said. I was at school leaving a class and in the time it took me to walk 50ft everything disappeared.

At first it started to go foggy and then a few paces later it was just dark.

I panicked and started screaming and kind of went into shock. Everything after that is pretty vague.

In the coming days specialists at a hospital near his home in Texas broke the news that he would never see again.

I was told this was going to be my future. I was classed as lacking 100 per cent light perception. I was blind, he said.

Mr Spencer had paediatric glaucoma, a rare condition caused by a defect in the eyes drainage system. * +

bozzalad 13.07.19 - 11:13am
It had been incurable but scientists have now managed to bypass the broken link by sending images directly to the visual cortex, the part of the brain responsible for sight.

Mr Spencer lives in the city of Pearland, near Houston, with his wife Jeanette, 42, and daughters Abigail, 15, Melissa, 13, and Jane, ten. In April 2018, he became one of just six people to have a 60-electrode panel implanted in the back of his brain.

Surgeons at Baylor Medical College in Houston spent two hours cutting a window in his skull, placing the electrode array on the surface of the brain, and stitching it up again. They then spent six months mapping his visual field.

This involved sending computer signals to the stimulation panel in his head to synchronise his brain to the real world in effect teaching his visual cortex to process images again.

Eventually, in October, the device was wirelessly connected to a tiny video camera, mounted in a pair of glasses, and switched on. He saw his wife and three children for the very first time.

It was an incredible moment, he told the Daily Mail. It was very humbling. * +

bozzalad 13.07.19 - 11:14am
now that is impressive * +

mz.c 13.07.19 - 12:25pm
Seeing your family for the first time * +

chickadoo 13.07.19 - 12:48pm
I didn't read past the original post but that's lovely. Science is awesome. * +

bozzalad 13.07.19 - 02:00pm

gives hope * +

phallica 13.07.19 - 02:36pm
That's interesting, might help with AMD in the future too. * +

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