Camera helps blind people recover their vision

Blind vision recovery system, including cameras and electrodes in the eyes, of a company being tested in the US and Europe.

Argus II , the name of the blind eye recovery system, is the invention of Second Sight in California, USA. Each is sold for $ 100,000 . The system includes 60 electrodes implanted in the user's eyes, a camera with a signaling function mounted on the glass, AFP reported.

Argus II's principle of operation is as follows : Camera on the glass records images in front of users and converts them into electrical signals. The electrical signal is then transmitted from the camera to the electrode array in the user's eyes.

The electrode array transforms the electrical signal into an image signal and then transmits them to the optic nerve and the brain. Thus blind people see them in the form of flashes and fuzzy cubes.

16 newly licensed ones for use in Europe. In the US 16 units are being tested. Among the users are Elias Konstantopoulos, a 72-year-old former electrician.

Born in Greece, Konstantopoulos came to America as a young man and became an electrician. At the age of 43, Konstantopoulos found that he could not see his arms if they were spread wide apart. When the ophthalmologist visited the ophthalmologist's office, the electrician was informed that his peripheral vision was decreasing over time.

Elias Konstantopoulos, a blind man for several decades, is taking part
Experiment with Argus II system.Photo: AFP.

The doctor said Konstantopoulos had pigment retinitis. This genetic and incurable disease attacks about 100,000 Americans. The patient fades in cones and rods - two types of light-receiving cells - in the retina until completely blind.

About 10 years later, Konstantopoulos's eyesight decreased to the point that he could no longer work. By 5 years ago, he became completely blind. ' If you lose your eyesight, you almost lose everything,' the 72-year-old said.

In 2009, Konstantopoulos's doctor asked if he wanted to take part in an Argus II system test. He nodded with excitement. Konstantopoulos said that transplanting the electrode array into his eyes took about three hours and was not painful. After that no one realized his eyes were implanted with electrodes if he did not speak.

Now every morning Konstantopoulos wears a camera with glasses and stands near a window or yard to wait for the car's sound. When a car passed, the old electrician said he could see it in the form of a light block.

The 72-year-old man was able to distinguish colors with their surroundings, determine the direction in the room, open windows and doors. In addition, he trains with the expert once a week. Exercises include tracking moving objects on a computer screen, determining the shape of objects. His eyesight increased and he could do quite a lot of housework himself.

" What I most want to see is the face of my grandson. I have never seen his face ," Konstantopoulos said.