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Move over, robot arms! There’s a new doctor in town, and it’s brought to you by the folks who also made your phone!
That’s right, folks, Apple’s Vision Pro, the headset that’s supposed to make you feel like you’re living in the metaverse or whatever, is now being used for something actually useful: surgery! Surgeons at the University of California, San Diego have strapped on these bad boys and have already performed over 20 minimally invasive procedures.
Apparently, lead surgeon and director of the Center for Future Surgery at UCSD, Santiago Horgan, thinks this thing could be “more transformative” than those fancy robot arms we keep hearing about. And get this, while the Vision Pro will set you back a few thousand bucks as a consumer, it’s apparently a steal for hospitals, especially compared to other medical equipment – which, let’s be honest, is probably marked up like crazy.
So, how does it work? Well, during these minimally invasive surgeries, doctors usually have to shove a camera through a tiny hole and then stare at a screen while they operate. Talk about a pain in the neck, literally. But with the Vision Pro, they can see everything right in front of their eyes, no neck craning required. They can even check out CT scans, monitor vitals, and probably order a pizza, all without having to take their eyes off the prize, which in this case is your insides.
Now, you might be thinking, “Didn’t they try this before with Google Glass or Microsoft’s HoloLens?” And you’d be right, they did. But according to Horgan, the displays on those things were garbage. The Vision Pro, on the other hand, has these fancy high-resolution OLED displays, and apparently, they’re “better than UCSD surgeons even expected.”
The best part? They’re not just giving the headsets to the surgeons. The whole surgical team gets in on the action – assistants, nurses, everyone! And apparently, no patients have said “no thanks” to the Vision Pro surgery. Which, you know, who wouldn’t want their surgeon to look like they just stepped out of a sci-fi movie?
But wait, there’s more! UCSD is also testing the Vision Pro’s ability to create 3D radiology imaging, because why not? And who knows, maybe they’ll start using it to diagnose your sniffles or prescribe you cough syrup. The possibilities are endless!
So, there you have it, folks. The future of surgery is here, and it looks a lot like a pair of really expensive ski goggles. Who knows what they’ll think of next? Robot nurses? Surgeries performed entirely by drones? Stay tuned to find out!
From the sales floor to the critic's corner, I'm a former Apple Sales Specialist who's not afraid to tell it like it is. Get my honest takes on the iPhone, Mac, and everything Apple. | Los Angeles, California.
