CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- As an engineer, Paul Mogan had a knack for fixing things.
So when he got his hands on a new device to improve his eyesight in 1999, he had a few recommendations.
"I started corresponding with the company," Mogan said. "You need to improve this thing. You can do it by doing this, this, this, this and this."
Mogan, 38, started losing his vision when he was 3. By 19, he was legally blind. He has a condition called macular degeneration.
The macula is a bit of tissue the size of a pinhead on the eye's retina. The area can scar because of thinning nerve tissue or leaking blood vessels. The result is a blind spot in the central part of a person's vision. This is the area of vision people use to read, drive, watch television and do most focused activities.
However, people with macular degeneration still have their side, or peripheral, vision. More than 13 million Americans are afflicted with the condition.
To use the peripheral vision more effectively, a headset called Jordy magnifies objects up to 30 times their size and changes the contrast and brightness of objects. The gadget essentially is two miniature digital cameras that look like a small set of binoculars. The cameras project the enhanced images onto high-definition television screens inside Jordy.
Jordy, made by Enhanced Vision Systems of Orange County, Calif., and prescribed by Dr. Scott Hearing, is named for the blind "Star Trek" character who wears wraparound glasses that help him see. "There's no reason we can't have, within two years, this down to a pair of regular glasses, (and) that many people can get behind the wheel of a car again," said Hearing, director of the Low Vision Clinic at the Stuart Eye Institute.
Mogan carpools from his home in Winter Park to his job at Kennedy Space Center every day.
"I would love to be able to drive someday," Mogan said. "I would also love the Jordy to be about the size of eyeglasses so I could have the option of wearing it all the time."
Mogan controls and measures air conditioning, sewage stations and water sprinklers for extinguishing fires at the space center.
In the past, he helped design tools for NASA. One such tool was a pole with a gripper on the end to snag debris from hard-to-reach spots on the shuttle launch pad. Such debris could damage the shuttle during launch.
NASA paid the $4,000 cost for Mogan's Jordy device, which is not covered by insurance policies. Only a few doctors in the country prescribe the device.
Mogan uses Jordy whenever he needs to read for a long time, such as when he's filling out forms. He could read before with magnifying tools, but it was slow.
Now, he can set Jordy on a stand above a book. Jordy then projects a magnified version of the page onto his computer screen.
"I think it allows me to be more productive," Mogan said. "I can always find a way to get something done, but now I'm doing it more quickly."
Other forms of treatment include laser surgery for the rarer form of macular degeneration.
Researchers are beginning to look for a way to use stem cells to repair a diseased macula.
Jordy had its infancy in NASA technology such as the LANDSAT satellite, which used small, light cameras to map Earth.
Mogan began using the original Jordy in 1999.
He later got an advanced version of Jordy 2 and helped work out the bugs and make recommendations.
Jordy 2 is a lighter, smaller version of the device, and the images it projects are a little bit brighter. The headset became available to customers in December. It usually takes two to three weeks for a person to become comfortable using Jordy.
"It's like learning how to drive a car," Hearing said. "You do get used to it pretty easily."
Hearing said Jordy 3 may be available in 2004. The updated device would look like the Star Trek eye band and weigh less than 2 ounces.
There a chance someday a microchip could be placed inside the eye.
Published under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2002 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
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