Life-changing eye implant helps blind patients read again

A group of blind patients can now read again after being fitted with a life-changing implant in the back of the eye.

The surgeon who microchipped five patients at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London said the results of the international trial were “astonishing”.

Sheila Irvine, 70, who is listed as visually impaired, told the BBC that being able to reread and do crosswords was “out of this world”. “It’s beautiful, it’s wonderful. It gives me so much pleasure.”

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 250,000 people in the UK and five million worldwide.

In people 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, causing central vision to become blurred or distorted. Color and fine details are often lost.

The new procedure involves placing a tiny 2mm square photovoltaic microchip, 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 an implant at the back of the eye, which sends them to a small pocket processor to be enhanced and made clearer.

The images are then sent back to the patient’s brain via the implant and optic nerve, allowing the patient to regain vision.

Patients spent months learning how to interpret the images.

Mahi Muqit, a consultant eye surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, who led the UK arm of the trial, told the BBC it was a “pioneering and life-changing technology”.

“This is the first implant proven to give patients meaningful vision that they can use in their daily lives, such as reading and writing.

“I think this is a huge advance,” he said.

For published research New England Journal of MedicineThirty-eight patients with geographic atrophy in five European countries participated in the Prima implant trial conducted by the California Biotechnology Science Corp.

Of the 32 patients given the implant, 27 were able to read again using their central vision. After a year, this equated to an improvement of 25 letters, or five lines, on the eye chart.

For Sheila, from Wiltshire, the development is even more striking. He absolutely cannot read without the implant.

But when we filmed Sheila reading her eye chart at Moorfields Hospital, she didn’t make a single mistake. After he finished, he punched the air and cheered.

The task required great concentration. Sheila had to put a pillow under her chin to keep the image steady from the camera, which could only focus on one or two letters at a time. At some points, the device had to go into magnification mode, especially to distinguish the letters C and O.

Sheila began losing her central vision more than 30 years ago due to cell loss in the retina. He describes his vision as having two black discs in each eye.

Sheila gets around using a white cane because her very limited peripheral vision is completely blurred. He can’t read even the largest street signs when he’s outside.

He says he cried when he had to give up his driver’s license.

But after having the implant fitted nearly three years ago, he is pleased with the progress he has made, as are the medical team at Moorfields.

“I can read my articles, my books, and do puzzles and Sudoku,” he says.

When asked if she was considering reading it again, Sheila replied: “Not at Nelly!”

“This is great. I’m a happy bunny,” she adds.

“Technology is advancing so quickly that it’s great that I get to be a part of it.”

Sheila does not wear the device when she is outside. This is partly because it requires great concentration; To read, your head must be kept very still. He also doesn’t want to be overly dependent on the device.

Instead, he says, he “hurries through chores” at home every day before sitting down and putting on his special glasses.

Because the Prima implant is not yet licensed, it is not available outside of clinical trials, and it is unclear how much it will ultimately cost.

However, Mahi Muqit said he hoped it would be available to some NHS patients “within a few years”.

It’s possible the technology could be used to help people with other eye conditions in the future.

Dr Peter Bloomfield, director of research at the Macular Society, says the results are “encouraging” and “great news” for those who currently have no treatment options.

“Artificial vision may offer great hope to many people, especially after previous disappointments in the world of dry AMD treatment.

“We are now watching closely to see whether the Prima implant will be approved for use in the UK and, more importantly, whether it can be made available on the NHS.”

The implant does not help restore vision in people who were blind from birth because they do not have a functioning optic nerve to transmit signals to the brain.