Real-life eyeshine surgery trial

What you think you'll look like with eyeshine...

In the Chronicles of Riddick series, a shiner is an outlaw who has undergone eyeshine surgery to give them night vision. That same thing, incredibly, is happening in a garage in a small town in central California: Science for the Masses is a group of biohackers who have successfully tested a procedure giving its brave/foolish test subject the ability to detect shapes in a no-light environment.

The Review on Night Enhancement Eyedrops Using Chlorin e6 describes it as an anti-cancer treatment used here for it's less-official property as a treatment for night blindness. Team member Gabriel Licina volunteered to have his eyes pinned open and his conjuctival sacs force fed the magic solution in three doses. Ouch. Then he put on black contact lenses and black sunglasses…and waited.

Within an hour, they had success. The subject was able to identify shapes and symbols in an unfamiliar dark environment and point to them with a laser pointer. Voila!

I don't know about you, but I am DEFINITELY trying this one at home!

What you actually look like with eyeshine.

What you actually look like with eyeshine.

via Science.Mic