HEALTH: After 20 years Of Blindness, A Blind British Man Regained Sight After First Successful Implant Of 'Bionic' Eye Microchips

The chip is 3mm by 3mm, and is implanted into the eyeball of sufferers

It was the ‘magic moment’ that released Chris James from ten years of blindness. Doctors switched on a microchip that had been inserted into the back of his eye three weeks earlier.

After a decade of darkness, there was a sudden explosion of bright light – like a flash bulb going off, he says. Now he is able to make out shapes and light.

 He hopes his sight – and the way his brain interprets what the microchip is showing it – will carry on improving.

 Mr James, 54, is one of two British men who have had their vision partly restored by a pioneering retina implant.The other, Robin Millar, one of Britain’s most successful music producers, says he has dreamed in colour for the first time.

 Both had lost their vision because of a condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, where the photoreceptor cells at the back of the eye gradually cease to work. Mr James, who lives in Wroughton, Wiltshire, with his wife Janet, said of his ‘magic moment’:

 ‘I did not know what to expect but I got a flash in the eye, it was like someone taking a photo with a flashbulb and I knew my optic nerve was still working.’ Ten more Britons with RP will be fitted with the implants, which are also being tested in Germany and China.

 The device, made by Retina Implant AG of Germany, connects to a wireless power supply buried behind the ear. This is connected to an external battery unit via a magnetic disc on the scalp. The user can alter the sensitivity of the device using switches on the unit.

The microchip has 1,500 light sensitive pixels which take over the function of the retina’s photoreceptor rods and cones.

One of the first tests was making out a white plate and cup on a black background.

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