The technology uses a photovoltaic implant placed beneath the retina, the inner wall of the eye that receives light signals. These signals are sent by a camera attached to the smart glasses. The camera captures images and transforms them into beams of infrared light, projected onto the chip. This, in turn, converts light into electrical stimuli, just as the retina would do if it were not sick, sending visual signals to the brain.
Of the 32 volunteers who completed the one-year follow-up of the research, 27 made progress in the reading test. “In this study, most patients managed to improve what we call lines of vision. When we go to an ophthalmologist, we project lines of larger letters that progressively become smaller and smaller. In these cases, patients were able to read five to 12 lines smaller than what they could read before the microchip implant,” explains Verginassi.
The implant charges with the infrared light projected by the glasses, therefore, it does not need wires or batteries to work. Furthermore, the device did not harm the functioning of the natural peripheral vision of patients who still preserved it, with both forms (artificial and organic) acting simultaneously.
But the surgery to place the small 2-millimeter chip under the retina is not simple. “Today it is already a type of surgery that we perform in practice, to treat hemorrhages or even pigment epithelium transplants, but it is a complex procedure”, reports the ophthalmologist.
26 serious adverse events were recorded in 19 participants, almost all of which were related to increased pressure in the eye and small hemorrhages in the first eight weeks after surgery. No case resulted in total vision loss or systemic risk.
The researchers are now working on prototypes that can give greater clarity to vision and plan to increase the number of volunteers undergoing tests, but it will still be a while before this alternative can be used by the general public.
Loss of central vision
AMD is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world. The disease progressively destroys the light-receptor cells in the retina, especially affecting the center of vision.
