Holy Retina, Batman! New implant helps blind to see!

A child of the 60's, I grew up with my trusty Argus C3 rangefinder camera slung over my shoulder, shooting pals taking layups on driveway basketball courts, as well as artistically capturing the dense autumnal foliage at Letchworth State Park in New York. But now there's a new Argus in town. And it may prove to be the tip of the iceberg in helping the blind to see. The product is the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, and it was recently implanted in an Italian patient with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), an inherited, blinding eye disease. In short, the system works to bypass the damaged retina via eyeglass sensors working with a retinal implant. The limitations of prototypical systems such as the Argus II, which might not provide very useful vision, should not be discounted. Similar to the slow and limited computers that filled an entire room no longer holding a candle to an 11" laptop, these will surely improve with time and further research.* Paul Krawitz, M.D., President Vitamin Science, Inc.