Bionic eye gives Briton sight back
Retina implant offers new hope to thousands
A REVOLUTIONARY bionic eye implant has restored the sight of a British man.
Ray Flynn, 80, has become the first patient in the world to receive an artificial retina for dry agerelated macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of eyesight problems in the UK.
Hundreds of thousands could benefit from the technology, which was previously used only for those with a rare eyesight condition.
Surgeons at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital implanted a chip at the back of Mr Flynn’s eye in a four-hour procedure last month. The retired factory supervisor can now make out shapes with his eyes closed – proof that the system is working.
Since he was diagnosed eight years ago his eyesight has progressively deteriorated until he could only see clearly out of the corners of his eyes.
The £80,000 procedure has restored his central vision, allowing him to read a newspaper without a magnifying glass for the first time in years.
Surgeons will now insert the Argus II retinal implant into more patients to show that it can work for a variety of cases. They hope that eventually the system will become available on the NHS.
Age-related macular degeneration affects 500,000 people in Britain, 85 per cent of them with the dry form of the disease. It occurs when the cells at the middle of the retina become damaged, resulting in a loss of central vision.
The bionic system transfers video images from a camera in special spectacles into electrical impulses that are sent wirelessly to electrodes placed over the damaged cells at the back of the retina.
The impulses stimulate the r eti na’s r emaining cell s , resulting in the perception of patterns of light in the brain. The patient learns to interpret these patterns to regain some visual function.
Mr Flynn said: ‘Before when I was looking at a plant in the garden it was like a honeycomb in the centre of my eye. That has now disappeared. I can now walk round the garden and see things.’
Professor Paulo Stanga, consultant ophthalmologist at the eye hospital, said: ‘Mr Flynn’s progress is truly remarkable.’
The new system is thought to be the first in the world that combines artificial and natural eyesight, with the electronic images melding with natural i mages from the surviving peripheral cells in the retina.
Professor Stanga said scientists have not yet worked out how to use the system, developed by US firm Second Sight Medical Products, for patients who have been blind from birth and have never learned how to process the electrical impulses from the eye.