Bionic Eye – A Review

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DOI: 10.21522/TIJMD.2013.04.01.Art016

Authors : Usha Nandini M

Abstract:

The darkness of the night is broken by the brightness of the sun and people worship sun for this. Similarly, providing even a flicker of light to a person who has lost his/her sight is one of the greatest miracles a doctor can perform. Bionic Eye- visual prosthetic devices serve this purpose and helps to restore some kind of visual perception in patients with retinal pathologies like retinitis pigmentosa and age related macular degeneration. The inception of this idea dates back to the 18th century but the recent advances in electronics, robotics and other technologies has helped in materializing the idea. The basic function of the device is to receive the images using a camera, convert it to electric signals and eventually stimulate the left-over healthier parts of the visual pathway. There are various kinds of devices based on the position of implants. Each of them have varied advantages. Understanding the existing systems would help in improvising them or in finding better systems to serve the same purpose.

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