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Implantable Telescope Lens Could Help Those With Failing Vision

by Tim Stevens on April 5, 2009 at 03:01 PM


The idea of a telescope fused directly into your eye may sound like a dream come true for impromptu stargazers, but the intent here is not for ocular astronomy. Rather, it's to help those suffering from age-related macular degeneration, or AMD. This condition results in the deterioration of eyesight (much like the deterioration of cashflow in the other AMD), creating a large blind spot in the center of the field of vision. VisionCare's 4mm implantable telescope is intended to re-focus an image onto an undamaged part of the retina of one eye using either 2.2 or 3X magnification, giving patients the ability see directly ahead while leaving the other as it was to provide peripheral vision.

It's a rather more simple solution than others we've seen, which is perhaps why it's already completed a Phase II/III clinical trial, and the FDA is recommending it be approved for use. We are too, if only so that we'll have more opportunities to use that 'Six Million Dollar Man' soundboard we keep bookmarked -- that bionic jump never gets old.

[Via Medgadget]

Tags: future tech, FutureTech, health, implantable telescope, ImplantableTelescope, macular degeneration, MacularDegeneration, medicine, telescope, visioncare, visioncare implantable telescope, VisioncareImplantableTelescope

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