US Approves First Method to Give the Blind Limited Vision
From: New York Times - 02/14/2013
By: Pam Belluck

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first treatment to
give limited vision to people who are blind, involving a technology called
the “artificial retina.” 

With it, people with certain types of blindness can detect crosswalks on the
street, burners on a stove, the presence of people or cars, and sometimes
even oversized numbers or letters.  

The artificial retina is a sheet of electrodes surgically implanted in the
eye. The patient is also outfitted with a pair of glasses with an attached
camera and a portable video processor. These elements together allow visual
signals to bypass the damaged portion of the retina and be transmitted to the
brain. The FDA approval covers this integrated system, which the manufacturer
calls Argus II.  

Read the entire article and view a video (3:19) at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/health/fda-approves-technology-to-give-limited-vision-to-blind-people.html

Links:
Argus II
http://www.2-sight.com/SSMP_ARVO_2009.pdf
http://2-sight.eu/en/product-en

Second Sight
http://2-sight.eu/en/home-en

Ray of Hope for the Blind (with video 1:53)
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7423654n

New technology may bring sight back to blind (includes some text from video)
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57522740/new-technology-may-bring-sight-back-to-blind/

Eye Implant Can Restore Some Vision in Rare Cases
http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2013/02/eye-implant-can-restore-some-vision-rare-cases

Submitted by Eric Valainis and Anna Evans and Kevin Appert

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Other links:
'Bionic Eye' Implants Will Hit U.S. Market this Year 
http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2013/02/%C2%93bionic-eye-implants-will-hit-us-market-year

Birth of the Bionic Eye
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/birth-of-the-bionic-eye