A group of blind patients can now read again after having a life-changing implant placed in the back of their eyes. A surgeon who inserted the microchips into five patients at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London says the results of the international trial are “amazing”. Sheila Irvine, 70, who is registered blind, told the BBC she was over the moon to be able to read and do crosswords again. “It’s beautiful, wonderful. It gives me such joy”. The technology offers hope to people with an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), called geographic atrophy (GA), which affects more than 250 people in the UK and five million worldwide.
In those with this condition — which is more common in older people — cells in a small area of the retina at the back of the eye gradually become damaged and die, resulting in blurred or distorted central vision. Color and fine detail are often lost.
The new procedure involves implanting a tiny 2-mm square photovoltaic microchip, about the thickness of a human hair, under the retina. Patients then wear glasses with a built-in video camera. The camera sends an infrared beam of video images to the implant at the back of the eye, which sends them to a small pocket-sized processor to be enhanced and made clearer. The images are then sent back to the patient’s brain, via the implant and the optic nerve, giving them some vision again. Patients spent months learning how to interpret the images.
Mahi Muqit, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, who led the UK arm of the trial, told the BBC it was “pioneering and life-changing technology”. “This is the first implant that has been demonstrated to give patients meaningful vision that they can use in their daily lives, such as reading, writing. I think this is a huge breakthrough,” he said.