Second Sight Argus II[/URL]. It could be the title of a Star Trek episode. It could also be the next step in giving the blind sight, through a piece of technology not unlike Geordi La Forge's VISOR, from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Dr. Raymond Iezzi Jr, a researcher and ophthalmologist with the Mayo Clinic worked with a man named Allen Zderad, a grandfather of ten and husband, who lost his sight due to a degenerative eye disease. Since then, a decade has passed since Zderad has seen his wife, let alone anything else. Now thanks to Second Sight Argus II and the team behind it, Zderad, whos was the 101 patient, is able to see his wife, and the world around him. Even if it's in the most basic of ways.
Dr. Iezzi, according to the TV Station KARE, implanted sixty electrodes in Zderad's eye. In conjunction with a special set of glasses, that have a camera and small computer installed in them. Together this equipment captures the user's surroundings, then the computer translates the information into usable data and information, which is then transmitted to the receiver on the eye, and then to the electrodes and into the optic nerve.

The information is transmitted through electrical impulses, via the electrodes in the eye. Thus stimulating the remaining cells in the retina. Over time it’s expected that the users would learn to interpret the impulses to see better.



Currently this “VISOR” only allows it’s user to see shapes, and possibly some of the finer details in a persons face. "It's crude, but it's significant. It'll work." Zderad said.

According to KENS5, a news station out of San Antonio, Texas, the operation took three hours to complete. Where Dr. Iezzi installed 60 electrodes in Zderad’s eye, as well as the receiver, which the computer sends all data through, via a wireless signal.

Already patients in the Netherlands, US, and various parts of Europe have had the chance to test and use the Argus II in their day to day lives. Some uses are simple, everyday chores or actions. While others, like a patient who has used the Argus II to try his hand, or rather vision at the archery range.

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