Photo by Jason DeMoe
Allen Zderdad, wearing his bionic eye device, poses with his wife, Carmen. The device allows Zderdad, who is legally blind, to see glimpses of light and shapes.
Sixty-eight-year-old Allen Zderdad began having troubles with his vision when he was in his teen years. He was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease known as retinitis pigmentosa.
Although his eyesight continued to deteriorate, he was able to finish college with degrees in mathematics and chemistry and he was gainfully employed at 3M. Eventually, the disease left Zderdad completely blind, and he was forced to retire from working and learn to live without being able to see his wife, children and 10 grandchildren – or anything else, for that matter.
Then, his grandson started to have vision problems.
“The doctors, looking at my grandson, knew that the disease was hereditary, so when they learned that I had it, they wanted to see me,” Zderdad said.
Image courtesy of SecondSight
Dr. Raymond Iezzi, who’d spent the last 17 years developing retinal prosthesis devices and testing them on animals, saw Zderdad as a perfect candidate for a bionic eye device created by Second Sight Inc.
“I was on board right away,” Zderdad said. “Anything I can do to increase my quality of life is something I want to be a part of.”
On Jan. 15, Zderdad went to the Mayo Clinic and had a tiny implant placed behind his left eye. The implant works by sending light waves to the optic nerve, bypassing the damaged retina. Wires attach to a prosthetic device made to be worn like sunglasses. The device sends a series of pulses to Zderdad that allow him to see some shapes and lights.
“I am learning to love this new machine,” Zderdad said. “One of my big moments was when I was cooking an egg in the morning, and I looked down and for the first time in 10 years, I could see that the egg had turned white.”
The technology is ever changing, and Zderdad will go in for an upgrade in April, with more scheduled down the line. Doctors say that eventually he could advance to the point of being able to recognize specific faces. Zderdad, however, is taking things one step at a time.
“Now that the weather is changing, I am looking forward to testing this thing out and seeing what it can do,” he said. “I am curious to see how much easier it will be for me to navigate outdoors or in crowds. Although it may not seem like much to some people, the independence that this device has given me has drastically changed my life.”