Electric Stimulation of the Eye to Improve Vision After Trauma

The finely detailed, precise anatomy of the retina and optic nerve capture light impulses from the environment through a biochemical process and then transmit these images to the brain via electrical impulses conducted from the inner retina to the optic nerve and ultimately to the occipital cortex. In the human eye, three types of specialized ganglion cells transmit electrical impulses to the brain. Among these three cell populations are rod and cone cells, which participate in the photo-transduction step of light perception, along with other light sensitive ganglion cells. It is a system whereby the photosensitive pigment rhodopsin (or one of its analogs) rearranges in response to light, and this change in chemical structure fires electrical impulses to the brain which in turn interprets the incoming impulses as a visual image. Transcorneal Electrical Stimulation (TES) using the "OkuStim®" device delivers electrical impulses to damaged and/or diseased photoreceptor cells. This electric stimulation of the retina may help to preserve VA and/or the visual field.