Tri-Service
Forces Veteran Given Bionic Eye
A US Navy veteran, blind for 19 years, is marking one year since being fitted with a bionic eye.
Otto Catalan was medically discharged after being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disease which eventually causes full loss of sight.
A veterans' hospital in Miami Florida is bringing a sight-restoring procedure to former forces personnel.
Otto has gone from being able to see nothing, to being able to make out lights and movement.
It may not seem like much, but to him, it has meant the world:
"Now, I'm able to see the fireworks outside; I'm able to see the lights; I'm able to see the letter 'M' in 'McDonald's'... after 19 years of being blind, [I can see] my son. It was a wonderful feeling, because I never saw my son in my life."
Otto underwent a procedure which implanted over 60 electrodes into his eye, and, teamed with a special device, they give him a form of sight.
It's an operation which is used over in the UK too, but this is the first facility to take on the procedure in a medical centre specifically for veterans.
So how exactly does all this work?
How Second Sight's technology works
Dr Gregori, the chief of ophthalmology at the hospital, carried out the operation on Otto. She said:
"There are two components. There's a component that is an implant on the eye, and inside the eye. [It's as if the eye is a ball] and there is a belt that contains an [antennae] - there's also a cable with a little square that contains electrodes, and [that's] positioned over his retina so it stimulates the retina underneath... and is transmitted... to the brain of the patient."
The bionic eye is aided in taking in information with an external visor.
Otto, meanwhile, will continue with his therapy, making progress with his device and learning how to process his new version of sight.
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