Gerald Hanks
A Houston-area woman is now the area’s first recipient of a retinal prosthesis, also known as a “bionic eye” earlier this month.
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Reports show Lydia Lopez underwent the procedure to receive the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System at Memorial Herman Hospital in Houston’s Texas Medical Center.
The 61-year-old woman reportedly suffered from deteriorating vision in her left eye since childhood, going blind in the same eye a decade ago.
But, thanks to advancing medical technology, doctors knew they could rebuild her:
The Argus II system involves a pair of tinted glasses, which contain a small camera and a microtransmitter.
According to experts on the procedure, the camera sends images to the transmitter, then sending the images to the retinal implant in the back of the eye socket via wireless signal.
The implant further sends the images to the brain through the patient’s optic nerve, like natural, non-bionic eyes.
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While the implant does not give the user full 20/20 vision, doctors say it will allow Lopez to distinguish light, shadows, shapes and outlines:
“The doctors tell me I will see a little—no driving or reading,” Lopez said in an interview ahead of the procedure. “But I don’t see anything so, for me, it will be a big difference. When people are blind, a little bit of sight is a lot.”
Dr. Amir Mohsenin, a UTHealth ophthalmologist, worked as one of the surgeons who carried out the implantation procedure:
“It’s a different form of vision than what we’re typically used to as sighted individuals,” Mohsenin said in another interview. “We’re essentially bypassing her degenerated retina and using the parts that are still intact to connect to her brain.”
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According to her daughter, the implant could eventually give Lopez the ability to move outside her house with a cane, and to see her grandchildren, who grew considerably in the 10 years since her blindness became permanent.
Although miraculous in its effects, the procedure reportedly cost $150,000.
Fortunately, Lopez said her insurance covered it.
While the Argus II lacks the zoom lens and infrared capabilities seen in the bionic eye from the 1970s TV show “The Six Million Dollar Man,” it is giving patients, like Lopez, something without a price tag: a new lease on life.
We look forward to monitoring her progress throughout her post-operative recovery.
Congrats to Ms. Lopez and her team of doctors forging new paths for Houston’s medical community.
ONLY ON 2: The first bionic eye surgery in #Houston. @HaleyKPRC takes us inside the operating room –> https://t.co/gDDLZ6FBqF pic.twitter.com/S9yrX1bLIZ
— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) January 22, 2018
