Restoring eyesight through a bionic eye implant is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Ray Flynn, an 80-year-old man from the UK, is the latest patient to have his vision partially restored through a bionic eye implant, according to the BBC. Surgeons in Manchester successfully implanted the Argus II, a bionic eye implant made by Second Sight, into Flynn allowing him to see the "outlines of people and objects very effectively" where he previously could not. Flynn has dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a medical condition that prevents him from having central vision, meaning everything in the middle of his sight looks like a circular blur. The bionic eye implant works in tandem with a special pair of glasses with a camera. The video camera records images and then turns them into electrical pulses, which are then transmitted wirelessly to electrodes connected to the retina. Though Flynn is not the first patient to undergo the bionic eye implant surgery — earlier this year, 68-year-old Allen Zderad also got the bionic eye implant to restore partial vision for retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease — he is the first one with AMD to do so. According to the BBC, about 500,000 people in the UK have AMD. And as many as 11 million people in the U.S. may have it. "I think this could be the beginning of a new era for patients with sight loss," Paulo Stango, the surgeon who led the four-hour operation said.
An earlier this year man from the UK has had his vision restored through a bionic eye implant. The man had an age-related macular degeneration, a condition which prevents him from having central vision. The implant works with a special pair of glasses and and a camera. The video sends electric pulses which wirelessly are transmitted to electrodes connected to the retina. The technology appears to be a huge breakthrough with up to 11.5 million people in the UK and the US alone to have the disease.