Dr. Naheed Khan, right, works with Roger Pontz, left, on an exercise to test how well he sees shapes on a computer screen at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Pontz suffers from a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa and is the second patient in the U.S. to surgically receive a “bionic eye” since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed off on its use last year. (AP Photo, Mike Householder)
Read: Michigan Man Among 1st in U.S. to Get ‘Bionic Eye’
Dr. Thiran Jayasundera, left, looks at Roger Pontz’s left eye as Pontz’s wife, Terri Pontz, right, looks on at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. The artificial implant that currently resides in Pontz’s left eye is called the Argus II, and is part of the system developed by a California company that includes a small video camera and transmitter housed in a pair of glasses. Images from the camera are converted into a series of electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. (AP Photo, Mike Householder)
Roger Pontz wears special glasses that house a small video camera and transmitter. The glasses are part of a system developed by a California company that wirelessly transmits images from the camera, converted into a series of electrical pulses, to an array of electrodes on the surface of Pontz’ retna. The pulses stimulate the retina’s remaining healthy cells, causing them to relay the data to the optic nerve. The visual information then moves to the brain, where it is translated into patterns of light that can take the shape of an object’s outline, allowing the patient to regain some visual function. (AP Photo, Mike Householder)
