Recent research has been conducted that lead to the innovation of a pioneering eyepatch that is said to improve the vision in people with age-related extreme sight loss. This new invention is implanted at the back of the eyeball, and everyone that tested this product was able to experience an astounding improvement or stabilized vision.
One woman, who was already aged 69 years old, was able to read up to 24 letters on the eye chart after having the device fitted, which is an extreme jump from what she was capable of doing before, which was seven.
The eye disorder known as the dry macular degeneration means a reduced vision in the central part of the eye, which is caused by a part of the retina which is responsible for people’s direct line of sight thinning.
The disorder affects around 1.75 million people in the United States alone, and this eyepatch is a groundbreaking new development in the effort to combat this condition.
Signs of Improvement
The patched was placed on the retinas of the four people with advanced dry macular degeneration. The patch, which measured 6x4mm was applied by the researchers of the study who were from the University of Southern California.
All four participants only had one eye used for testing. After one year, the patch was able to stabilize the disorder in all of the participants on the eye that was treated. The other eye that was served as a control continued to get worse.
Two participants, in particular, said that they found it a lot easier to keep their vision focused on a single object after a year had passed since the implant was fitted. Researchers believe their findings prove that the patch can improve the vision with severe age-related dry macular degeneration.
For now, though, their studies have limited it to the short-term, but despite this, it is still a great achievement in the effort of helping people with this condition. Their findings found its way into the journal, Science Translational Medicine, and the researchers plan to hold a larger trial with more participants in the future in order to test the device on patients that are still on the earlier stage of the disease.
Salmon and Mackerel Can Protect Against Sight Degradation
The study was conducted a few months after research had been released that eating plenty of sardines, salmon, and mackerel may protect against sight loss. A chemical is found in abundance in oily fish that boosts the survival possibility of certain cells that are critical to vision.
This chemical can also protect against age-related sight recession. The study was conducted by a certain Louisiana State University.
Omega-3 oils prepare cells in the eye to weather against stress that our eyes face in our day to day lives, loss of blood supply, and other factors, according to the researchers. Laboratory tests also show that eye cells that are constantly exposed to light withstand damage if they were supplemented and protected by such oils.
Although fish oil does also contain an inflammatory oil which can also inadvertently damage the eye (omega-6 AA) the fatty acid omega-3 DHA is still able to alter the former substance’s effects.
This invention, though still at its early stages, has a huge impact on our society. When thinking about it, everyone has grown to accept that fact that as we grow older, many things that we were able to do cannot be done anymore, and seeing perfectly is one of them.