In the elderly is low vision as a result of dying cones in the yellow spot frequently. A group of researchers has developed an implant that vision is partially able to recover.
In the human eye is the yellow spot area in the eye where a high concentration of cones located. Cones are responsible for seeing color and the human eye focuses images on the cones in the yellow spot. Rods are mainly in the periphery localized and provide motion detection and black and white vision. Many elderly people get suffer from an eye disorder that macular degeneration is called, so that the cones in the yellow spot to die and keen to see more difficult. The peripheral vision is retained.
That peripheral vision by a group of researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center used to elderly people with macular degeneration to help. By a special lens, that they have a telescope called the eye implant, images on healthy parts of the retina projected. The wide-angle lens was for the first time with a man in the eye implanted and could in the future be available for patients.
The lens magnifies images, depending on the model, a 2.2 or 2.7 times, and is made of quartz glass. In the glass housing, the lens elements as a refractor telescope, configured. The lens is approximately 4.4 millimeters high and has a diameter of 3.6 mm.