British Health Services Paying for 10 Bionic Eyes

"The NHS [British version of the NIH] will pay for 10 blind patients to have 'bionic eyes' to help treat an inherited form of blindness," reports the BBC."The bionic eye is a retinal implant which interprets images captured by a miniature video camera worn on a pair of glasses. Five patients will be treated at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and five at Moorfields Eye Hospital in 2017.They will be monitored for a year afterwards to see how they get on in everyday life.

"'I'm delighted,' said Prof Paulo Stanga from the Manchester hospital. He has been involved in earlier trials of the Argus II Bionic Eye, made by the company Second Sight, in retinitis pigmentosa. He added: 'It surpassed all of our expectations when we realised that one of the retinitis pigmentosa patients using the bionic eye could identify large letters for the first time in his adult life.'
This disease, which is often passed down through families, destroys the light-sensing cells in the retina. It leads to vision loss and eventually blindness." Read more.