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After 20 years of darkness, there is light for a man in Medford, Massachusetts.

A bionic eye implant has helped Anthony Andreotolla gain back some vision. Its not eyesight in the way most people see, but the technology is making a difference in his daily life.

Anthony Andreotolla, who suffers from a degenerative eye disease, can see for the first time in 20 years thanks to a new bionic eye.

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Its not actual vision. Its what they call artificial vision, Andreotolla told CBS Boston.

He suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that affects the retina. Andreotolla began to lose his vision in his teens and by his thirties, he couldnt see anything.

Once everything is black, for many, many years, that was it, he said.

For 20 years he lived in that darkness until he became one of the first people to receive a bionic eye.

Every day, Andreotolla puts on special glasses and commutes on public transportation to his job in Boston about six miles south of his home.

A tiny camera in the glasses sends images to a wearable computer and then those images are processed and sent wirelessly to an implant in his eye. The implant surgery took place in Baltimore at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

I dont see things the way other people do. I see everything in different flashes, lights, shapes, Andreotolla explained.

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CBSN

A blind man with a degenerative retinal disease was able to see his wife of 46 years thanks to an experimental bionic eye.

Its more of a cloudy, black and white vision, he explains.

I can tell the difference between a car or a bus or a truck. I cant tell you what make the car is, he said.

That vision helps him navigate life more safely.

After his commute, he arrives at his job as a substance abuse counselor at St. Anthony Shrine.

I have my hope back. Once I lost my sight I was resigned to be blind for the rest of my life. Im not resigned to that anymore. I believe if I can live long enough, Ill be able to see a lot of beautiful things, Andreotolla said.

The developer of the bionic eye isSecond Sightand theyre already working on the next generation of bionic eye with faster processing and sharper images.

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2017 CBS Interactive Inc.

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After 20 years of darkness, bionic eye helps man see - WDEF News 12

This entry was posted on June 16, 2017 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |