Changing the Way You See

Take a look outside. What can you see? For 40-45 million people who suffer from sight loss, their answer is nothing. We often forget that sight is a privilege, not a given. Blindness is a tragic disability that affects a lot more people than we would expect. However, thanks to the changes in scientific technology, there may be something that can be done for the blind population.

In 2012, Australian scientists completed the first-ever successful bionic eye transplant. To understand the way this bionic eye works, here is a quick crash course on how the little round things in our faces allow us to see. Anything and everything we see is because of light and reflections. Light reflects off objects into our retina. The retina, located at the back of our eyes, contains little cells called cones and rods, or “photoreceptors”. These photoreceptors transform the photo signals into electrical signals which are then sent to our brain through the optic nerve. Our ever-wondrous brain then decodes these signals into images that we can see.

Half a century ago, the idea of having a bionic eye was in the same reality as cyborgs and spaceships. However, time has proved this supposed science-fiction to be a reality. The way this techno-eye works is with the help of a tiny computer chip planted into the retina of the eye. This chip bypasses the damaged photoreceptors of a sight-impaired person and sends visual signals from the retina to the brain – essentially “tricking” the eye into seeing. How crazy is that?