TORONTO, Ontario — A special set of glasses has allowed a blind mother to see her newborn son for the first time. Kathy Beitz, 29, started to lose her sight when she was in the first grade. Beitz has Stargardt Disease, a genetic condition that causes macular degeneration. Due to her condition, a blind spot takes up most of her field of vision.
“It takes up pretty much, if i were looking at a person, their head and shoulders, that area, I don’t see any of that,” Beitz said.
But with the help of a pair of eSight glasses, Beitz was able to see her newborn son Aksel.
“I remember his little mouth and his gums and his itsy-bitsy tongue when he would cry,” she recalled. “I would have had to imagine what he looked like and I’m used to doing that, but it’s a little bit heartbreaking having to do that for your own baby.”
At home with her son, Beitz uses the glasses to care for Aksel, read important labels and even bedtime stories.
“I would basically be going in completely blind and not knowing the product I’m using on my child,” she said.
A eSight spokesman said the glasses have been on the market for about a year.
“What we do is capture an image and a video and present it in real time with certain enhancements for people with low vision. This makes the eye perceive more than they would otherwise be able to,” spokesman Taylor West said.
eSight glasses cost about $15,000.
