Article by: Dr Zoe Arugay
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Yes, good news for people suffering from blindness or sight problems. Science has made it possible to turn darkness into light!
The Food and Drug Administration have given the green light on Tuesday to VisionCare's CentraSight telescope, a tiny telescope which is utilized by having it implanted in the eye.
The device caters to 75-year olds and older who have yet to have their cataracts taken out and have end-stage macular degeneration, an advanced disease which causes permanent scarring in the eye.
The approval of the eye telescope is based on results from a clinic trial involving Marian Orr, of Charlotte.
Orr happened to be one out of 19 patients who was fortunate enough to have received the telescope seven years ago at Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates. The organization was the sole participant in the clinical trial back in 2003.
In spite of this, the device is still under review by Medicare for approval regarding its coverage and could take a few months. The approximate cost for screening, surgery, rehabilitation plus the device totals $20,000.
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According to Dr. Don Stewart, Orr's opthalmologist at Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat, the telescope, which is actually smaller than a pea, works by allowing light to be focused on working parts of the retina which, which helps restore the ability to see what had been lost before.
And although the special device does not provide healing, it intends to partially restore central vision, which is the ability to see fine detail.
There are two models of the telescope. One magnifies vision by 2.2 times, the other by 2.7 times. And once its implanted, it is virtually unnoticeable.
Dr. Kathryn Colby, an opthalmic surgeon in Boston, and also one of the principal investigators for the clinical study that involved Orr, explains the delicate procedure in implanting the device. First, the cataract is removed by doctors from the eye. The telescope is then inserted into the support structure of the eye's lens called the lens capsule, so it is positioned where the cataract used to be.
People who receive the implants are subjected to rehabilitation in order to train the one eye with the implant, to be able to see centrally, and the other eye to see peripherally, adds Dr. Colby.
The telescope has also given 80-year-old Orr the ability to witness the essential things in life, like her family, especially her grandchildren.
