Elizabeth Goldring of MIT is working on a device that may help certain legally blind people see. In some cases of blindness, a functional retina is hidden behind cloudy lenses which block any kind of clear vision. Doctors currently use a large, and very expensive device called a scanning laser opthalmoscope, which can temporarily focus an image on these hidden lenses, allowing people to temporarily see. Goldring’s device replicates this process on a much smaller scale, using a hacked together combination of a digital camera and a color LED back-lit LCD screen. She’s been working on this portable SLO for a while now – a larger black & white unit was created in 2006. There is high hopes for this device, and prototype testing will take place soon at the Beetham Eye Institute in Boston.
[via Engadget]
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My brother has been blind for 14 years. He suffered sever trauma to the brain in a car accident. The optic nerve was sheered. Is there any one out there that could possibly look at his situation and maybe attempt to help him. He’s 35 years old.
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I would like my son who is now 25 yrs old to testt his device and see if it will work for him , he has a detache retina and is now cover with thick layer of cateriga
April 15th, 2009 at 2:33 pm