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MIT's portable 'seeing machine' for the blind enters testing {Engadget}
Jan 14th 2009 12:29PM Ok, to fix some of this confusion (I am an Ophthalmology resident):
The LENS gets cloudy in a cataract. This can be surgical removed (via phacoemulsification or other techniques) and replaced with an artificial lens. This is a very very common and safe procedure. It is covered by all insurance companies.
The CORNEA can become cloudy in other diseases and can be replaced with a corneal transplant. This requires donor tissue from a deceased person. This is a more difficult operation and has less success but is also very common.
I don't really know the details of this "seeing machine" but if only helps you see through a cataract, it seems pretty limited in utility. Some patients do not want their cataracts removed or if they only have one eye it is more dangerous to do surgery. So some people could benefit from this, but in general I don't really see this having a huge utility. Definitely not worthy of an engadget post.
