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High-tech solutions top the list in the fight against eye disease
"The eyes are the window to the soul," the adage goes, but these days our eyes could be better compared to our ethernet connection to the world. According to a 2006 study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, the human retina is capable of transmitting 10 million bits of information per second. But for as potent as our visual capabilities are, there's a whole lot that can go wrong with the human eye. Cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are three of the leading causes of blindness the world over. Though we may not have robotic ocular prosthetics just yet, a number of recent ophthalmological advancements will help keep the blinds over those windows from being lowered.
Your smartphone could soon act as a glaucoma testing device
We've seen smartphones work as electrocardiograms, so why not use them to test for glaucoma at home? That's the idea behind Cambridge Consultants' Viewi headset. Rather than hitting the hospital or optometrist's to monitor your vision, you could simply slide your phone into a head-mounted Gear VR-like holster. From there, a mobile app reproduces the flashing light patterns used to test for open-angle glaucoma. A Bluetooth remote acts as the input device for patients to press when they see a flashing light and, really, that's about it, according to the press release.
