A MAN who was totally blind can now read letters of the alphabet and the time on a clock face with a microchip implanted in his eye, it was revealed yesterday.
Experts said hopes of such a leap forward had previously existed “only in the realm of science fiction”.
But now researchers have shown it is possible to restore vision lost to disease with an electronic eye.
The study, by a team in Germany, will offer hope to the 25,000 Britons who are told they will go blind due to an inherited condition known as retinitis pigmentosa.
But it could also eventually treat the 300,000 who have macular degeneration which also leads to blindness.
The microchip, smaller than the tip of a pen and containing 1,500 tiny light sensors, fits into a natural space beneath the retina.
When an image comes through the lens of the eye it hits the sensors which send an electrical pulse to nerve cells at the back of the eye. These transmit the message to the brain.
The device is powered by a thin cable that runs from the eye, out of the side of the skull and is attached to a battery behind the ear.
The new study reveals that three patients have been able to see grainy images of objects and recognise shapes after having the device fitted.
Finn Miikka Terho, 46, was able to walk around a room with ease, read his own name and even tell researchers they had spelt it wrongly.
He could recognise shades of grey, read the time from a clock and pick up an apple and a banana from the table in front of him.
Before the implant he was totally blind apart from being able to detect changes between light and dark.
The pilot study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B Journal, means the technology behind the device works, is safe and is ready to be tested on a larger number of patients in a proper clinical trial.
Although it does not mean patients will ever be able to see normally, it does raise the prospect that the blind will be helped to see enough to regain some independence.
Prof Robert Maclaren, Professor of Ophthalmology at Oxford University, will conduct the next trial.
He said: “This is a big breakthrough, no two ways about it. To take someone who is blind and help them see again is pretty incredible.”
