‘Bionic eye’ helps virtually blind patient see again

A British woman has been implanted with a ‘bionic eye’ after being virtually blind for six years

The Guardian reported that Rhian Lewis suffered from retinitis pigmentosa since she was five.

The condition causes gradual deterioration of photoreceptors, the light-detecting cells in the retina, which can lead to blindness and for which there is currently no cure.

Surgeons at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital fitted Lewis with a ‘bionic eye’ implant in the back of her retina in an attempt to help her see again.

The implant is a small electronic chip, made by a German firm, Retina Implant AG and was placed in Lewis’s eye in June.

During follow-up tests, Lewis was asked to look at a large cardboard clock to see whether she could tell the time and according to The Guardian said, “Honest to god, that felt like Christmas Day,” when she was able to read the clock for the first time in over six years.

The implant – a 3mm sq array of around 1,500 light sensors which sends pulsed electrical signals to nerve cells – is connected to a tiny computer that sits underneath the skin behind the ear and looks like a hearing aid, reported The Guardian newspaper.

Describing the moment the device was turned on, Lewis said: “They said I might not get any sensation and then all of a sudden within seconds there was like this flashing in my eye, which has seen nothing for over 16 years, so it was like, oh my god, wow!”

Lewis was then taken to the cloisters of New College, Oxford, she said: “I walked up the street, and the lady from social services said to me to point out anything I thought might or might not be there. And the first thing I thought ‘there might be something there,’ there was a car, a silver car, and I couldn’t believe it, because the signal was really strong, and that was the sun shining on the silver car.

“And I was just, well, I was just so excited, I was quite teary. The enormity of it didn’t hit me until I’d actually got home.”

Lewis is able to manipulate the implant using dials on a small wireless power supply held in her hand. This helps her adjust sensitivity, contrast and frequency according to The Guardian.

Robert MacLaren, who is leading the research at Oxford, said the technology had huge potential benefits.

He said: “It’s an amazing process because what Rhian and others are trying to do is reactivate a part of the brain that hasn’t been doing anything for the last 10 years or so. There is a lot of rehabilitation because basically they are learning to see again.”