patient 17 JoAnn Lewis could see until age 20, at night, on-coming traffic began to dim their headlights, the street lights, the city went dark. Thus began the slow progression to complete and total blindness, the natural history of Retinits Pigmentosa, a degenerative disorder of the retina, the light receiving cells at the back of the eye. JoAnn would marry, have children, become a grandmother, when the chance came she might see again, she grabbed it. At 79, Mrs. Lewis was one of thirty participants in the longest-running clinical trial to evaluate the Argus II Retina Implant, "the bionic eye’’.
The device has 3 components: 1) eyeglasses mounted with video-camera, for real-time image capture; 2) portable computer to process the visual feed to electronic information, impulses, transmitted wirelessly; 3) to an array of 60 electrodes embedded in a paper-thin film the size of a fingernail implanted surgically into one eye and tacked to the diseased retina. Impulse stimulation, direct contact of the residual retina, is relayed via the optic nerve to the visual cortex and transformed to visual information in the brain. Mrs. Lewis's reports she was able to see light and contrast, distinguish trees from sky. Max Aguilera-Hellweg, Director, Dp/Cameraman, Editor. Made on Assignment for National Geographic Magazine.