About the Retina
The retina is a sheet of light-sensitive tissue on the inner back surface of the eye that contains specialized cells called photoreceptors which convert light into electrical signals for transmission of images to the brain. Unfortunately, any disease that results in photoreceptor cell death will ultimately lead to blindness.

Retinitis Pigmentosa
This disease causes blindness in approximately 200,000 people in the United States annually and impacts thousands more as families struggle to cope with this debilitating disease. The first symptom of retinitis pigmentosa is difficulty seeing in the dark or in dim lighting due to the degeneration of rod photoreceptors. Loss of night vision is followed by a progressive loss of peripheral vision producing tunnel vision, legal blindness, and eventually, total blindness.

Retinitis pigmentosa is an inherited disease. Although there is no cure, much research is being done to both prevent and delay the disease’s progression. Emerging treatments are designed to protect the cones (daytime vision) from the ravages of mutations that cause rod photoreceptor death and night blindness.

At the Retina Foundation, we constantly strive to test new technologies and diagnostic tools for retina-related diseases. One of the most recent innovations we’re testing is the multi-focal electroretinogram (mfERG). This technology takes advantage of the fact that the retina converts light energy into electrical energy for transmission to the brain. A time contact lens electrode on the front of the eye can detect these minute signals in much the same way that an EKG detects heart function. The mfERG is a highly advanced technology used in patients with age-related macular degeneration to detect abnormal macula function. This and other technologies are used at the Retina Foundation for research purposed in order to understand and prevent progressive forms of retinal degeneration.

Another technology offers insights into the relationship between structure and function in Retinitis Pigmentosa. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) uses lightwaves in much the same way as radar to create cross-sectional images of the retina. This image shows the center of the retina in the left panel. The green line indicates where the OCT has taken a cross-sectional scan. The scan, in the right panel, shows all of the layers of the retina in this normal subject. The photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium are shown as the dark bands within the image. In patients with retinitis pigmentosa, we can measure a reduction in the thickness of this photoreceptor layer and relate it to the changes in vision. This new tool offers an additional outcome measure for new clinical trials in retinal degenerations.