L.V. Prasad Eye Institute announced the launch of a new ‘field expander’ to treat patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa (RP). This is an inherited disease that affects the retina’s ability to respond to light, causing slow loss of vision, beginning with decreased night vision and loss of peripheral (side) vision and eventually resulting in blindness.
While RP is quite rare in the Western countries (about one in every 4,000), the incidence is quite high in India, almost 10 times higher — one in 350 suffer from it in some places, and the total number has been put at two lakh experiencing challenges in their day-to- day activities.
The field expander developed by Ocutech (U.S.), contains miniature wide-angle telescopic lenses allowing persons with RP to see more area at once and reduce the impact of their tunnel vision, said Dr. Henry Greene, clinical professor at University of North Carolina and co-founderof Ocutech.
