HISTORY
82 role vision plays with quality of life and healthy aging .”
Cataract treatments were historically risky , painful procedures involving needles . In 1986 , Bath invented a painless alternative : the Laserphaco Probe . It uses a laser to vaporize cataracts and restore sight . It made her the first African American woman to receive a patent for a medical device two years later . “ I think her work opened the door for innovators to keep pushing the envelope ,” says Nijm .
RETINAL IMPLANTS One of those innovators is Humayun . His success with retinal electrodes inspired him to develop a microchip implanted on the retina . It would convert signals from a pair of glasses into electrical signals for the optic nerve .
He reconfigured a cochlear implant , which stimulates damaged cells in the ear to overcome hearing loss . “ Instead of going into the ear , it would go into the retina ,” he says .
In 2002 , at the University of Southern California , he worked once again with the patient he had helped 10 years earlier . This time , he implanted a microchip with 16 electrodes onto the patient ’ s retina . To test the device , he showed the patient a letter H .
“ The patient said , ‘ Are you talking about these two vertical lines that are connected by a horizontal line ?’” Humayun recalls . The patient saw the letter , but it had been so long since he had read letters that he didn ’ t immediately recognize it .
That success was the beginning of a long journey to improve the efficacy of the implant , which Humayun named the Argus after the many-eyed giant from ancient Greek mythology . In 2013 , the FDA approved a version with 60 electrodes that communicate with the glasses via radio .
The Argus now helps blind patients see patterns , shapes and movement , using an algorithm to help them interpret those images . Some have seen their first Fourth of July fireworks .
“ Another patient told me this was the first time she could look at the lights on a Christmas tree ,” says Humayun .
His journey isn ’ t over yet . He hopes patients will one day see colors , increase their visual clarity and even zoom in on objects from afar .
AUGMENTED REALITY Drew Perkins , CEO of Mojo Vision , is also on a mission to enhance vision . After successful cataract surgery still left him with less-thanperfect sight , he began looking for better technology .
“ Forty years ago , I watched ‘ The Six Million Dollar Man ’ on TV and he had bionic vision ,” he recalls . “ So why don ’ t we have that today ?” That ’ s what he set out to invent .
Augmented reality uses computer graphics to enhance real-world images . Perkins worked with co-founder Dr . Michael Deering to embed this technology in a contact lens . The unit ’ s image sensor detects visual details and uses a smartphone or the cloud to enhance them . It detects and highlights the edges of objects , including letters and words .
The lens display , no bigger than a grain of sand , projects that enhanced image to a healthy retinal area . The patient controls this interface by simply moving their eye . The