Telescopic eye implant approved by the FDA
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted July 8th 2010 1:29PM
posted July 8th 2010 1:29PM
We love eye implants, and we've seen our share of them, and this one is pretty sweet (although it isn't the creepiest by a long shot -- that prize would go to the one that uses a human tooth to hold its lens). In the works for well over a year, and approved by the FDA a couple days ago, VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies' implantable miniature telescope is intended for patients over 75 years of age who are suffering from end-stage macular degeneration. As with any tricky new surgery, this one is not without risks, including the need for a corneal transplant due to the device's size. According to CBC News, in clinical testing seventy-five percent of over 200 patients "had their vision improve from severe or profound impairment to moderate impairment," and there are two more studies on the way: one will follow up with existing patients, while the other will outfit 770 new patients with the device. The cost? $15,000.
@NoOneSpecific I was thinking more of Geordi La Forge from Star Trek.
How many Megapixels?
Enhance...enhance...enhance...
Is that $15K per eye or for both?
So will people like in the movie Repomen come to your house and just cut it out of your eyeball if you don't pay the price?
Yeah, $15K for the *magical* Apple version. Google, Microsoft, and others will have this under $500 by the end of the year.
Google's will be free, but ad supported.'ad's will be based off what you are looking at, and google will track your viewing history...
@edgore
yay ads for boobs
just when I thought it would cost $6 million dollars...
We need this sort of technology to fend off the robot uprising...
as long as we do not lose too much of our humanity in the process.
THEN MAN BECOMES ROBOT!
/*head splosion*/
WOW that eye on the left looks like from the Hulk, nasty looking eye.
Canon L Glass please?
F1.2 35mm flavour would be sweet
He now looks like my headlights
Jokes apart, this is unbeliaveble! imagine this kind of tech in 10 yrs.
-Hey man, how are you doing?
-recovering from my eye mod upgrade. Now i have 2010 luxury model with integrated hud and auto-googling.
sweet.
another quesiton... will a ruin it if I rub my eyes?
lol
Laaaaaazerpointer vision!
I want one with a built-in ACOG scope.
It drives me crazy that I was born thirty or forty years too early for bionic implants being affordable for recreation while I'm in my prime.
they need to make it software upgradable, and sell it on the app store. 10x zoom would be $5k, nightvision $20k, wireless transfer to pc $50k, face recognization with full database...remote eye...movie/tv... the possibility is endless
@nick1sp
Yea and if one of the apps gets upgraded you have to sit in a corner or somewhere safe and watch the red progress bar update it while a womens voice is telling you, "Please stand by while we update your eyes. Make sure you are aware of your surroundings as your eyes will be temporarily disabled, Thankyou for choosing our Skynet eye service"
... That basically finishes its self.. :P
Waiting on the ones with red tint so that people will start to look like Terminators!
Apple will have on of these available next year. It's called the iEye and available for $2995 with a two year contract. or was it contact?
@cc3d
"the iEye" - does it come with a patch and pegleg?
@cc3d
Whoa, I said that in the first comment :P
Thats is kinda scary,but I would do it if I had to.
Windshield Repair Houston
i think I will wait for x-ray vision.
Telescopic eye implant: $15,000
Cochlear ear implant: $100,000
i-Limb Pulse Hand: $75,000
Artificial leg with PowerKnee( x2 ): $250,000
Total of $440,000
Now, factoring inflation: $6,000,000 man (in 1974) in 2009 dollars would be $26,000,000 so you could include the Dean Kamen "Luke" arm ($18.1 Million spent in R&D on it) and still come out with a better deal today.
Yeah, next test plane wreck I get in, I'm shopping NewEgg...
i'm waiting for the 70-200mm lens so that I can read the McDonald's menu from the highway.
On a more serious note: I would like to thank Flatley for bringing this technology to our attention. I have a grandmother that suffers from macular degeneration, so I will be keeping a close eye on new developments (no pun intended).
Nice, it just needs wireless and the ability to take pictures and record video
More than meets the eye!
@chilipalm i lol'd
maybe steve jobs will make a robot hand that wont fizzle out signal for lefty's too. the cost $100,000 comes in black, white, and fusha.
Just think of the "real" improvement to those in need
My grand mother and mother suffer from it. Imagine seeing a small clear circle an huge greyed out circle and all the outside fuzzy everyday of your life from +- 60up Would you find that still funny ?
My hat off to the inventors! Just wish it will be more affordable soon or paid for by the medical system in Europe...
( I said I WISH)
You have to beat me into a 1 week coma to only touch my eye. But I know when I retire in 2060. I will buy one of them with 100x zoom, and that allows me to see in complete darkness.
It's a bit creepy looking. Should make it a brown color or something.
wow that's crazy, sign me up
All I have to say about this is... what?
"Retina" Display.
Don't get the Apple version, it might not allow all plugins...