Implant for the treatment of vision diseases
The Blindsight device sends a signal directly to the visual cortex, which is responsible for forming a visual image based on impulses received from photoreceptors. Thanks to this, it is possible to restore finland phone number library vision even to a person who does not have eyes or an optic nerve at all. It is only important that the brain itself, which is responsible for vision, is not damaged.
When official information about the Blindsight implant appeared, the world's largest publications reported that Elon Musk's company Neuralink had revolutionized the world of medicine. The implant had already received the status of a "breakthrough device" from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, in 2022, Neuralink had a competitor - the company Science Corp, created by former Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak.
The company has introduced its own solution for people with vision problems to the world – the Prima implant. True, this device does not copy the Blindsight implant and cannot restore vision to completely blind people, but it is capable of eliminating incurable diseases that often lead to complete blindness. Such diseases include the aforementioned age-related macular degeneration.
How does the Prima implant work?
Unlike the Blindsight implant, Prima does not send a signal to the visual cortex of the brain, but to the optic nerve. The implant itself is a tiny photoelectric stimulation grid that is placed under the retina. That is, the implant is essentially an artificial retina. To make the optic nerve even more sensitive to light, a certain protein is additionally injected into the eye.
As mentioned above, Prima works in conjunction with special glasses and a processor. The glasses contain cameras and a built-in projector that sends light signals to an implanted device (artificial retina). A handheld computer is used to convert the images from the cameras into these signals.
