Artificial Eyeballs Can See in High-Definition

Posted 12-7-2009

This Foxnews article could be relevant for anyone experiencing vision difficulties. It seems there is such a thing as an artificial lens that can be implanted into an eye that can help persons be able to see in high definition. It looks like it is only available in the UK and British ophthalmic surgeons indicate the lens actually allows vision to be better than 20/20.


This is extremely good news to me and even to my husband who vows over and over that if they ever come up with a sure fire way to improve vision he will jump on it and have it done. Until then, we are both skeptical about all the current surgical procedures for vision improvement and the percentage of successful vision rates that are not 100% OK.


I would rather continue to use eyeglasses instead of going through any corrective laser surgery on my lens if the outcome turned out to be worse than what I had to begin with. I have always known that with advances in medicine there will be a better technique if I just wait it out and it looks like this British technique is the one. Cataract surgery is quite common and the technique starts out just like the implanting of a new lens in a cataract patient. However the great thing about this particular lens is that it can be adjusted while it is in the eye. The article describes the process of adjustment by detailing, “The lens is made from a special light-sensitive silicone, and it can correct both cataracts and the long-sightedness that usually comes with age. By shining ultraviolet light on specific parts of the lens, surgeons can change its shape and curvature, sharpening the image seen by the patient.” The first surgeon to use the lens reports, “We have the potential here to change patients' vision to how it was when they were young. The change is so accurate that we can even make the lens bifocal or varifocal, so as well as giving them good vision at distance we can give them good vision for reading.” “They won't need their glasses at all." And the procedure seems foolproof because the lens can be adjusted over several days until there are no distortions caused by flaws in the eye and once vision is perfect it is permanently fixed in shape. I would love to have perfect vision again as I have not been without glasses since 8th grade.


I think it is great when there are advances in medicine and science made to real problems such as vision difficulties. One thing that I am puzzled about though is that a lot of really cool advances are made abroad and not available here in the US. The article does not say if this will be available to the general public and at what cost, but only that they are successfully implanting the lens into real patients. Hopefully my excitement about this procedure is not in vain and I will start seeing commercials on TV offering this technology in my home town.