A new artificial retina, an array of electrodes implanted on the back of the eye, has been found to restore partial vision to totally blind people.

In a study focused on 15 blind participants who had the implant for at least three months, 10 of the patients subsequently tested were able to identify the direction of moving objects.

"These results give new hope to the many people with degenerative retinal diseases," said Jessy Dorn, PhD, of Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., lead author of the study.

More than two million Americans suffer from eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, slowly losing their vision as the nerve cells that detect light are destroyed, due to either age or illness. There is no known cure.

In this case, the researchers worked around the destroyed cells. Each participant was given a pair of glasses with a small video camera mounted on it, and a belt with a tiny computer attached.

The computer processed video images from the camera and transmitted the data to the implanted electrodes on the retina. When the users "looked" at a monitor with a white bar sweeping across a black screen, the electrodes that corresponded with the moving bar stimulated cells in the eye, creating spots of light in their fields of vision.

"Researchers have found that an array of electrodes implanted on the back of the eye can restore partial vision to totally blind people. (Credit: Jessy Dorn / Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.)"

Source: Society for Neuroscience