Vitrectomy (from tbd)

...the surgical operation of removing a clouded or dam­aged vitreous humour from the eye and replacing it with a clear saline solution.

E.g. Vitrectomy works like a minivacuum cleaner, sucking blood and clots out of the vitreous and replacing their volume with clear saline. This scavenging restores optical clarity and prevents newt retinal deformations. Encyclopedia Science Supplement (Grolier) 1981, p. 230.

Prospects in the Treatment of Glaucoma Summary

The aim of the work was to study the influence of green monochromatic light on eye’s hydrodynamics in healthy and glaucoma patients. It was shown that green monochromatic light decreases the intraocular pressure, increases the out-

How of a chamber moisture and decreases the Baker’s fac- lor. The application of a physical method of influence on eye’s hydrodynamics is simple, accessible and has no side effects. Prescription of special green colour filters is a use- ful addition in an arsenal of glaucoma treatment methods.

(From Ukrayins’ky Medychny Chasopys,

1/27, 2002)

Vestibulectomy (from tbd)

...surgical removal of the sensors of equilibrium in the vestibule of the inner ear.

E.g. Another mechanism contributing to the remarkable recovery in the coordination of the eye-head movements that occurs within the first two to three months following vestibulectomy entails a ' recalibration’ of saccadic eye movements with respect to visual in­put. Scientific American 10/74, p. 106.

A Bionic Ear Implant (from. U.S. News & World Report)

A thin wire drapes over David Columpus’s shoulder, lea­ding from a tiny protrusion behind his left ear to , a black box that resembles a belt-slung portable stereo. If Columpus had been merely hard of hearing, he would have had a wide choice of hearing aids that are more compact and far less conspicuous. But Columpus is totally deaf, and until ten months ago, no hearing aid was of the slightest use. Now, however, thanks .to a surgically implanted device that is essentially an artificial ear, he can distinguish between sound pitches. And over a 1.0-months trial period, the experimen­tal bionic aid has,helped him regain speech discrimination to the point where he can hold nearly normal conversation face to face and converse to a limited degree over a tele­phone. Total deafness is usually the result of severely dam­aged hair cells in the cochlea, the snail-shaped channel of the inner ear. The experimental electronic device implanted in Columpus’s ear bypasses these damaged receptors, instead activating the auditory nerve with an electrical current trans- mitted from the battery-powered microphone and sound processor.

The bionic .ear .is not a new idea. Numerous teams of researchers have been struggling to perfect a device that will

conquer deafness. The one worn by David Columpus has j been under development for nearly a decade by scientists.at the University of Utah. Recently they have been working in conjunction with Kolff Medical, Inc., of Salt Lake City, Utah, 1 whose surgical engineers designed and implanted the world’s 1 first artificial human heart. Recently the U.S. Food and I Drug Administration granted Kolff permission to extend 1 its clinical trial of the Ineraid artificial ear to 20 additional 1 patients.

There may never be a bionic ear that totally restores a I deaf person’s hearing. But encouraging developments like 1 the Ineraid promise to be an important early step for people — especially infants — who previously had no hope of ever I hearing a sound.