Release date: 2017-06-23
What can I do with VR?
Asking this question, everyone may be too lazy to think about it, because it is really old to say that there are only a few aspects. Health. often. talk.
Then why do you still ask this question? Because the secret agent recently discovered that as a normal person, we may have been accustomed to using VR products as a way of entertainment, but there are such a group of people who use VR, but may affect or even change their lives.
The secret agent first tells you a story:
James Blaha was diagnosed with strabismus and amblyopia at the age of one. Parents have tried countless methods and hope to cure their eyes. However, James does not cooperate very well. For example, he will secretly remove the cover that treats the amblyopia when his parents are not paying attention. After adulthood, the treatment is even more difficult.
It is obvious that the oblique amblyopia is inconvenient for James: because the left eye is amblyopia, when driving left, even if you try hard to turn the whole head, you will still be afraid to see the left rear vehicle, and you can’t feel solid, so he gives up. I drove and didn't get a driver's license (although some states in the United States allowed amblyopia patients to obtain a driver's license).
James has worked as a designer, programmer, etc., but because he does not have a driver's license, he can only work from home.
One day in 2013, James ordered an Oculus Rift, initially to experience the effects of VR games. Who knows after a while, when he opens the game again, a cube suddenly rushes to him! Scared that he subconsciously ducked back! Unexpectedly, this turned out to be the first time that James felt the world of 3D for more than two decades. Before that, he didn't even know what a three-dimensional world was.
Why do ordinary people feel the usual 3D effect, the oblique amblyopia group can not see? This is because most of the oblique amblyopia is a hidden danger in the eye, and it is difficult for the eyes to cooperate. To see the 3D effect, the first condition is that the two eyes can effectively cooperate, and the two eyes have similar visual acuity, so that the split images formed by special treatment pictures or special glasses can be effectively combined into a clear picture in the brain.
Seeing the 3D effect, does it mean that the eyes start to coordinate and cooperate? What effect will it have if it persists? Using the magical experience of the Oculus Rift, James embarked on the path of exploring vertebral amblyopia with VR.
That's right, James, the actor in the story, is the home VR that Xiaoyan interviewed to treat James Blaha, CEO of Vivid Vision, a company that treats amblyopia. Today, James's vision of amblyopia has recovered to 1.0.
James as a child and James after growing up
Why can VR treat oblique amblyopia?
After extensive reading of scientific journals, consultation with ophthalmologists, and scientists, James finally understood "why VR can produce therapeutic effects on oblique amblyopia." In 2014, Vivid Vision was quickly established to help the majority of patients with oblique amblyopia.
Then why "VR can produce therapeutic effects on oblique amblyopia?"
Popularly speaking, the information that the eye sees the object will pass to the visual cortex of the brain. If one eye is amblyopia or strabismus, if there is no way to see the object for a long time, the brain will subconsciously use only the eye that can be seen clearly to see the object. The long-sighted amblyopia is weaker, and may be degraded to be invisible. (The secret agent has deep experience, and myopia is also like this. The eye with deep myopia is deeper and faster... oh...)
But after entering the world of VR, the player initially subconsciously just plays the game. In the new virtual reality, if you want to win the game, the two eyes must cooperate. Over time, when the eyes adapt to this new scene, the vision of the amblyopic eye is slow. Slowly improved. Because it was "awakened up" again.
James told the agent that his vision of amblyopia has increased to nearly 20/20. 20/20 refers to the vision of a normal person, meaning that you can stand at 20 feet (6 meters) and see the range of sights that normal people can see at 20 feet. This is what we commonly call 1.0 vision.
Adult anatomical amblyopia is more difficult to treat
While playing the game, the oblique amblyopia is cured. How many oblique amblyopia people can help? There are two sets of data here:
In the United States, more than 10% of the population suffer from one or more binocular visual impairments, such as amblyopia, strabismus or insufficiency; approximately 5% of children belong to a group with simultaneous amblyopia;
In China, the incidence of strabismus accounts for 1% of the total population, and the incidence of amblyopia accounts for 3% of the total population; among children under 16 years of age, amblyopia accounts for 3%-5%, which means that the number of children with amblyopia is as high as 12 million;
Before the age of 11, it still belongs to the "plastic period" of vision. Once the "plastic period" is missed, the recovery of the lower amblyopia group is more difficult.
Strabismus: The most common is the "cross-eyed" eye with the eyeball deflected inward, and the "blinking eye" with the eyeball deflected outward.
At present, the method of treating oblique amblyopia is nothing more than wearing glasses correction, visual training or surgical correction. Covering treatment is a kind of visual training. That is to hold the normal eyesight, use amblyopia as much as possible. However, this is limited to children whose vision is still in the “plastic periodâ€. James told the agent that for people whose vision has grown completely, the success rate of cover treatment is only about 5%.
Since April 2015, the treatment kits developed by Vivid Vision have been sold to professional eye clinics in the United States. The treatment kit includes 6 games, 6 eye training and multiple test modes, and supports HTC Vive, Samsung GearVR and many other devices.
How high is the success rate? James told the agent that in the first 19 patients, the VR was treated 8 times in three weeks, with a success rate of 60%. These patients range in age from 15 to 55 years old. As the patient's time of use increases, the effect will be better.
Testing home version is expected to be less than $100/month
Although the success rate is good, the professional version of the kit requires a professional ophthalmologist to operate. First, the patient needs to go to the designated eye clinic. After the ophthalmologist has prescribed the treatment, he goes to the clinic once a week for 1-2 VR treatments, ranging from 3 to 10 months.
When the pilot explored the game, he found that the screen in front of him was divided into two parts. The handles were used to control the bubbles on both sides. It only needs to puncture the bubbles, which is very simple.
Behind the seemingly simple, you still need the help of a professional physician. Because it is necessary to independently control the image entering each eye and its brightness. In this way, the image can be offset (for adjusting the squint angle), or a strong high-contrast image can be presented to the participants' eyes, such as making the light of the weak eye stronger, and the brightness of the normal eye. Then lower.
As for patients with strabismus, eyeball surgery is usually performed, but James said that this does not allow the eyeball to truly restore the function of looking forward to the thing, which is why it is not corrective surgery. If you have a corrective surgery, then wearing VR treatment, is able to make patients with strabismus better recovered. Among the test users, there have been cases of rehabilitation.
Currently, Vivid Vision has cooperated with nearly 100 clinics in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe and other countries, with more than 6,000 patients. A list of clinics in different regions can be found on the official website. Taking into account the ease of operation and lowering the cost of treatment, Vivid Vision is working with UCSF and California Berkeley professors to conduct patient testing on the next generation of home editions.
At that time, patients will be expected to use their own equipment for treatment at home, from 1-2 weeks to the clinic to 1-2 months to the clinic, which greatly reduces the cost of medical treatment (every time you see an ophthalmologist, the cost is 80-150 The dollar does not equal). Even when used at home, doctors can still see the patient's daily updated data from the background to track the treatment effect.
Are there any plans to enter the Chinese market besides Europe and the United States? James revealed that there is indeed this plan. If the home version is available, I hope that the comprehensive cost can be less than $100 per month. Smallly explored relevant data. In China, the cost of surgery for each strabismus child is 5,000-10,000 yuan. The cost of amblyopia comprehensive training for each amblyopia child is about 1,000 yuan/month, including 30 comprehensive trainings, which translates to nearly 150 yuan. Dollar. It can be seen that the monthly treatment fee of $100 is still affordable.
In the past May, Vivid Vision completed a seed round of $2.2 million in financing, including Anorak Ventures, Huayan Capital, Liquid2 Ventures, Youku Global Media Fund, etc. James said that he is interested in selling and selling medical devices. The Chinese investment institutions that have channels for drug supervision have contact.
Source: Silicon Valley secret probe (micro signal guigudiyixian)
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