Duke Eye Center and retinal surgeon Lejla Vazjovic, MD are featured in the article "Why Theres New Hope About Ending Blindness" in the September issue of National Geographic Magazine. The article discusses worldwide blindness and new treatments and technologies that are available to help patients. The story includes a photograph of Vajzovic performing surgery on a patient who received the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System. Duke Eye Center was the first in North Carolina to provide the Argus II to a patient.
The Argus® II Retinal Prosthesis System ("Argus II") is also known as the bionic eye or the retinal implant. It is intended to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to induce visual perception in blind individuals. It is indicated for use in patients with severe to profound retinitis pigmentosa. A miniature video camera housed in the patient's glasses captures a scene. The video is sent to a small patient-worn computer where it is processed and transformed into instructions that are sent back to the glasses via a cable. These instructions are transmitted wirelessly to an antenna in the retinal implant. The signals are then sent to the electrode array, which emits small pulses of electricity. These pulses bypass the damaged photoreceptors and stimulate the retina's remaining cells, which transmit the visual information along the optic nerve to the brain, creating the perception of patterns of light. Patients learn to interpret these visual patterns with their retinal implant.