Seeing the Bigger Picture: Developing Vision Field Expanding Glasses for Retinitis Pigmentosa Patients

Creating vision field expanding glasses that will benefit people living with mild to moderate retinitis pigmentosa. Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a degenerative eye disease affecting roughly 1 in every 4000 Americans that progressively causes the dystrophy of rod cells on the periphery of the retina. RP will typically cause legal blindness by age 40. This project is based on experimentation using different lens, prism, and mirror techniques in order to create a pair of glasses that will expand the field of vision without restricting central vision. This product is tested by enlisting the help of students at the Center for Advanced Technical Studies. The product is tested via simulation glasses and peripheral vision tests. The simulation glasses will help people understand what it is like to live with the disease and will allow the testing of vision field expanding glasses on people with peripheral vision. If the field of vision is expanded by the glasses, the results are successful