Boy gets prosthetic irises
2008-11-22 21:08
Cincinnati - An Ohio boy born without irises is starting to see colours more clearly after receiving a prosthetic iris.
Surgeons from the Cincinnati Eye Institute implanted the custom-made device Thursday into the right eye of 7-year-old Nathaniel Brantley of suburban Cincinnati, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported on Saturday.
The manufacturer, HumanOptics/Dr Schmidt Intraocularlinsen Co in Germany, matched the implants to photographs of Nathaniel's mother's eyes.
Surgeon Michael Snyder says if all goes well he'll operate on Nathaniel's left eye.
The iris is the collared part of the eye that controls the amount of light entering the eye. Bright lights have always hurt Nathaniel's eyes and he can't focus well. Before the surgery, he couldn't always see colours clearly.
"I can see red and blue and yellow and orange and green and white," Nathaniel said afterward in the exam room.
- AP