40 ms·
People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03420-x https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03420-x
- cjaackie 1y agoThe one thing I maybe missed, is there anything that can be done to reduce the risk of developing Age-Related Macular Degeneration?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- MathMonkeyMan 1y agoI don't know, probably not. My dad has wet macular degeneration, and it's treated with injections into the eyeball every few months. The treatment works well, but timing the injections is tricky. Too often and the side-effects become significant. Not often enough and you can get a retinal bleed, which my dad did. Fortunately he regained most of the vision lost in the bleed, and now they've increased the frequency of the injections. He'd probably be blind by now without them. Not to mention the cataract surgery and the glaucoma... It isn't carrots.
- knifie_spoonie 1y agoWearing sunglasses apparently helps. You just need to make sure they have a proper UV rating, a lot of the cheap ones you get online don't do a good job of blocking UV.
- czl 1y agoThose that fail to block uv can leave your eyes exposed to more UV than if you were not wearing any sun glasses.
- ghostpepper 1y agoMy layperson understanding is this happens because the mechanism that dilates the pupil responds to visible light so glasses cause it to open wider, but if they don’t block UV then you end up with more UV exposure than if you didn’t wear anything
- jwrallie 1y agoYears ago I saw on TV a report where people bought several sunglasses sold in the street in Brazil and compared to the expensive brands and they all cut UV quite effectively. Not that I would trust national TV test methodologies and risk my vision but it was a curious result.
- bookofjoe 1y agoOff topic but in the same vein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)
- adrianN 1y agoI find that surprising since most plastics you would make glasses from should block uv.
- sigmoid10 1y agoMost plastics are transparent to UVA, which is like 90% of UV that reaches earth's surface. They only start absorbing at higher UV frequencies. That's why sunglasses have dedicated UV ratings. You can bring your sunglasses to basically any optometrist and test how well they block UV. It takes 20 seconds and they'll probably do it for free.
- adrianN 1y agoThat makes sense, thanks.
- pk-protect-ai 1y agoGlass protects from UV bellow 350nm, which leaves 350nm-400nm band open. So additional coating is required. I might be wrong but such factors as glass thickness and the radiation intensity should be also accounted for. Every physical object is mostly an empty space ...
- terminalshort 1y agoVisual range goes to 380. I'm skeptical that light at 350 is really doing much damage to my eyes.
- pk-protect-ai 11mo agoIt actually does not not matter what you see. You can't see UV, and it harms your eyes. What you need is a protection from UV band, and that is exactly what your eye can't see.
- jasfi 1y agoLutein may prevent or slow it. It's the best general eye supplement I've found too.
- zachrip 1y agoI was prescribed vit a palmitate, lutein, and DHA. The vit prescribed was a high dose, like 10k iu per day. I cut back on that dose, I'm going blind but I also need to consider my general health. I have ushers syndrome, not md, but it's a retinal disease (retinitis pigmentosa). To be clear, this is prescribed as a "we can't do anything else for you" thing, since there is no cure for RP. This may or may not actually help.
- jasfi 1y agoSorry to hear that. Given that it's genetic only something like Crispr could perhaps one day help.
- zachrip 1y agoThey're also working on mRNA treatments, there is the LUNA study currently underway. Unfortunately I have a rare variant that isn't covered by this treatment. I'm hopeful but alas I live my life like treatment isn't coming because it's probably not.
- hollerith 1y agoEat astaxanthin, lycopene, lutein or similar yellow, orange and red pigments that plants use to protect themselves from sunlight.
- ImHereToVote 1y agoStop producing AGE's. Stop eating sugar. Advanced glycation end-product proteins or lipids that become glycated as a result of exposure to sugars
- snthd 1y agoDon't smoke.
- AltruisticGapHN 1y agoI believe fish oil / omega 3 helps. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11888/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11888/
- kspacewalk2 1y agoSadly I think this may be a worldwide tendency. Source: was a child in the 90s in Eastern Europe.
- nextworddev 1y ago[flagged]
- firecall 1y agoJust like Geordi La Forge! Star Trek TNG is here!
- drannex 1y agoI am in disbelief that on such a nerd focused forum, I could only find a single comment pointing out that they are wearing what I will forever call "Geordis"
- RodgerTheGreat 1y agoFor the sake of the patients, I hope there's a better long-term service plan than Second Sight Medical Products had: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_retinal_prosthesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_retinal_prosthesis
- stavros 1y agoSir, this is a Capitalism.
- frumplestlatz 1y agoWell, yes. Capitalism is why the product could even be developed in the first place, and also why it ended the way it did.
- OJFord 1y agoIt's not the only imaginable way, but it is the society we (in the vast majority of the world) live in, and I agree it doesn't really make sense to bash something not continuing to exist unprofitably when it was developed for profit. It's annoying when software support ends for anything, phones, Nest Protect, (any Google product!), but I think best to bear it in mind in buying anything that it's a possibility, who are you relying on for what and what's their incentive to keep going.
- wiz21c 1y agoExcept when these guys pays millions in marketing to make you believe you can rely on them. If at least they would just say nothing instead of propagating their distorted vision.
- crote 1y agoThe problem is that companies are deliberately kneecapping their products by making cloud subscriptions mandatory and third-party repairs impossible. Refusing out-of-warranty repairs or discontinuing cloud services for obsolete products because it is no longer profitable wouldn't be such a big deal if third-party providers were able to replace OEM support. Traditionally, if I buy a $500 dishwasher, the OEM is responsible for repairs under warranty. When the warranty lapses it'll still keep working perfectly fine, and if something breaks I can go to one of a dozen repair shops in my local area. Same if the manufacturer goes bankrupt: it'll keep working, and I can still get it repaired. These days, if I buy a $500 tech product, it can turn into an expensive brick literally the next day, and there's nothing I could do about it. Even worse, it can happen because the OEM feels like it, not just because they went bankrupt! The fact that I own and possess the product has become completely meaningless, its fate is permanently in the hands of the manufacturer. Somehow we've ended up with all the downsides of renting/leasing, and all the costs of purchasing. It'll only get worse unless we start punishing companies for behaving like this.
- danielcspaiva 1y agoPretty cool
- lynx97 1y agoA bit of a tengent, but... For those worrying about their eyesight when getting older... If you are into FLOSS, one last defense against your eyes failing when you get older is actually to contribute to accessibility before you (hopefully never) end up needing it. Disclaimer: I am blind myself.
- inglor_cz 1y agoWhat do you think about the recent "People with blindness" obsession, as evidenced in the title? I am not blind nor deaf etc., but I am frankly fed up with it. In my case, should I call myself "a person with programming, Czechness and fortysomething years"? Nope, I am a middle-aged Czech programmer. Yes, that does not reflect my entire personality and humanity. So what. Better than this sort of language abuse.
- wizzwizz4 1y agoIt shortcuts the American tendency to turn all disability-related nouns into slurs. (I found out a few weeks ago that "deaf-mute" is a slur in the States.) That's the major advantage, as far as I can tell.
- kingkawn 1y agoDeaf-mute is not a slur in the US
- wizzwizz4 1y agoWikipedia says it is, citing the National Association of the Deaf's Community and Culture FAQ (among others). If you have sources that say otherwise, that suggests a NPOV issue with the "Deaf-mute" Wikipedia article.
- bigstrat2003 1y agoWikipedia is dead wrong. I have never, ever, even in the most obscure context, heard it used as a slur.
- felixhummel 1y agoThey should call it Kiroshi. ;) For real though: The cyberpunk dystopia of hackable [1] eye gear is something to think and talk about. [1]: In both senses of the word.
- epmaybe 1y agoIt’s not often that an ophthalmology study makes it into the New England journal of medicine. This is pretty neat technology, but subretinal surgery is a skill mostly forgotten by retina surgeons. It will be interesting to see who will end up offering this kind of surgery. They didn’t really demonstrate that patients without the implant had worse vision. You could argue that with the magnifying glasses themselves that patients could improve their vision without surgery. So it will be up to a future study to determine this.
- yieldcrv 1y ago> had achieved clinically meaningful visual improvements so that means it sucks
- HugoTea 11mo agoThey gained the ability to read, which is a big step for quality of life and accessibility. It's not just books, things like reading your own mail, the menu at a restaurant, train departure times etc. all goes a long way to regaining independence
- jomarry 1y ago[dead]
- terrycody 1y agoOne of my relative got blinded in a production process, a hard bolt crashed into his eyeball, unfortunately, another eye also can't see things due to drinking too much alcohol, I think the pro term is retinal detachment If I am right. So now he is in pure blindness, I can feel the pain. He comes from China. I hope there will be a process can help him to see things again! If anyone knows sth, please tell me!