New specs help to ease phantom limb pain...

The problem of amputees suffering phantom pain is being addressed by Scottish scientists who have developed glasses that trick the patient into thinking their severed limb is still in place. 

More than half of people who have had limbs amputated report painful sensations that feel as if their missing limbs are still attached. These can last for years. 

Dr Jonathan Bannister, a consultant anaesthetist at Ninewells hospital in Dundee, has created “prism glasses”, which give a mirror image of the patient’s existing limb. This suppresses the upset in the cerebral cortex, the layer of the brain that perceives pain, and thus reduces the phantom pain by allowing the patients to “move” the phantom limb and unclench it from painful situations. More..

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