How blind grandfather could 'see' his grandson for the first time with revolutionary bionic glasses

It is the moment grandfather Elias Konstantopoulos has been dreaming of after losing his sight - 'seeing' his grandson for the first time.

Now he is a step closer after revolutionary technology has allowed him to see flashes of light which has given him hope he will one day be able to distinguish the boy's features.

The breakthrough has come almost five years after he went totally blind from the incurable condition retinitis pigmentosa which affects one in 3,000 people in the U.S.

Vision: Elias Konstantopoulos wears a special set of "bionic" eye glasses after a three-hour operation to implant a microchip in his eye which allows him to distinguish between light and dark

Doting: Elias Konstantopoulos hugs 18-month-old grandson Anthony at his home in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Futuristic technology has allowed him to see flashes of light

Testing: Elias Konstantopoulos runs through an optics exercise with his 'bionic' eye glasses during a session at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore

Konstantopoulos from Burnie, Maryland, came to America from Greece as a young man and first noticed his vision was deteriorating when he was 43.

A doctor discovered he was no longer able to see his outstretched arms from the corners of his eyes.

HOW THE DEVICE HELPS PATIENTS

The device is similar to the cochlear implants that have allowed hundreds of thousands of deaf people to hear again

It is part of a growing field known as neuromodulation, or the science that helps people regain lost abilities such as sight, hearing and movement by stimulating the brain, spinal cord or nerves.

Ear implants work by picking up sound through a tiny microphone, then converting those signals into electrical impulses and sending them to an electrode array implanted in the patient.

The electrodes gather the impulses and ship them to the auditory nerve, which hears them as sounds.

The retinal prosthesis follows a similar process. A tiny video camera on the glasses captures images and converts them into electrical signals that are fed to an electrode array that is surgically implanted in the patient's eye.

The visual signals are sent to the optic nerve and then to the brain, and the patient sees them as flashes of light and blurry shapes.

Within 10 years he was blind from the disease which gradually eats away at the retina's rods and cones, which are photo receptors that help people see light and identify colour and detail.

'You lose your sight, you pretty much lose everything,' said Konstantopoulos, now 72. But hope came when he join a three-year trial of a futuristic technology.

This involves placing an electrode array in his eye and a wireless camera mounted on a pair of glasses.

Now, every morning he puts on the glasses, straps a wireless device to his waist and stands by the window or out in the yard waiting to hear the sound of a car approaching. When it passes, he says he can see a block of light go by.

He can also distinguish light-coloured objects against dark backgrounds, and he can move around a room by being able to see where there is an open window or door letting in the sun.

The device, known as the Argus II, is made by a California company called Second Sight. It was recently approved for use in Europe, and in the U.S.

The operation to implant the electrode takes about three hours and causes little pain, according to Konstantopoulos.

He said: 'Without the system, I can't see anything. With the system, it's some kind of hope. Something is there. Who knows with technology what it can do? '

Fourteen patients are using the devices in America and 16 in Europe. The Argus II costs about 100,000 dollars.

The company plans to apply soon for a humanitarian device exemption with the Food and Drug Administration, and hopes for approval in 2012.

Konstantopoulos practises with the device one day a week in the lab with Gislin Dagnelie, a professor of ophthalmology who works with blind patients at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

At each session, Konstantopoulos traces objects he sees on a computer screen. Sometimes they walk arm in arm around the medical complex trying to spot certain objects.

He is gradually improving in his ability to interpret the light flashes and identify them as lines and shapes, the doctor said. He is also doing work around his home including retiling his bathroom floor.

Konstantopoulos dotes on his 18-month-old grandson, Anthony who calls him Papou. He said: 'That has been my biggest complaint. I have never seen his face. I cannot see his face. Yet.'