Artificial retinal pouch prepared for Removing blindness
Artificial retinal pouch prepared for Removing blindness! An artificial pouch has been placed to be installed inside the retina, which can be useful in a common blind disease in older people. The initial experiences of this pouch have been very encouraging.
Age-related blindness is a common disease worldwide, known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Blindness in people over the age of 50 is caused by AMD, in which the eyelids and retina of the eyes gradually weaken and become visually impaired.
Now the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research has developed a pouch inside the retina that mimics the exact cells that sense light. Such cells are called photoreceptors. However, they have been tested on animals first and have promising results.
The details of the electric pouch have been published in Nature Biomedical Engineering and this patch will help to relieve blindness in people with affected vision. It is mounted inside the retina where its electrodes connect to the retina’s photoreceptors.
Two companies have made such connections in this regard but they have not been very successful. However, each pixel of a French company’s pouch operates a different cell. This results in a very detailed view. Now they will be tested on five patients in the next phase. However, this invention requires many more years to reach the market.