[Faline]

A bionic eye that could restore the sight to the blind is to be tested on Britons.
Small-scale trials on the Continent have already produced ‘quite astonishing’ results.
The tiny implantable microchip allowed men and women who thought they would never be able to see again to read a clock and identify everyday objects.

A microchip packed with 1,500 sensors is implanted in the back of the eye. This then stimulates nerves in the retina which pass signals down the optic nerve to the brain to create an image:


Now, the wafer-thin device is to be implanted in Britons for the first time, with the first operations due within weeks.
Up to 12 men and women will be treated, with the surgery taking place in Oxford and London.
If these, and similar operations in Europe, prove the device from German firm Retina Implant to be safe and effective it could be on the market by 2013.
Most of the Britons treated will be middle-age and all will have retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary disease that destroys the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye.
A microchip packed with 1,500 light sensors designed to replace those lost to disease is implanted in the back of the eye.
The sensors convert light to electrical signals. These stimulate nerves in the retina which pass signals down the optic nerve to the brain to turn into an image.
Robert MacLaren, the surgeon who will lead the Oxford arm of the trial, cautioned that the surgery is still experimental and the device does not work in all cases.

[Sharon]

Wish my mum could have one as her eyes are ruined due to diabetes Doubt it would work for her as her case is progressive.

[prax22a]

Next they'll be converting everyone into cybermen

[kellyhound]

imagine the ability to see for the first time after all these years.