Bionic Eyes Can Already Restore Vision, Soon They'll Make It Superhuman

We now live in an age where radical technology can help the blind to see, an impressive enough accomplishment in its own right that gets even more mind-bending when you consider what's it means for the future. UV vision? Eyeballs that zoom in and out like a camera lens? It's coming!

Scientists 'round the world are working to improve the retinal prosthesis system, or what many people simply call a bionic eye. The leading device in the States is called the Argus II, created by California company Second Sight. It costs about $145,000 and has been used by some 80 visually impaired people in the last few years.

It works by combining an external eyeglass-mounted camera and a sophisticated retinal implant. The camera uses a small microchip to process what it sees, and then wirelessly sends that data to the retinal implant, which has 60 electrodes in it that provide information to the optic nervewhich is what discerns light, movement, and shapes.

But the vision people get with the bionic eye isn't like typical sight. They see contrast and edges of objects, but only in black and white. The ability to naturally see light and color has been eliminated by damage to various cells in the eyes, but with enough use, the brain learns how to make sense of these images that appear from the electrode's signals. Argus II users have reported successfully reading large-print books, crossing the street on their own, navigating an unfamiliar home, or seeing images of their spouse for the first time in decades.

Unfortunately, the Argus II is not able to lift them people out of technical blindness, which in America is 20/200. The best that users have reported is about 20/1000. But upgrades are coming. And here's where things get really interesting.

The next iteration of the Argus II will include the ability to perceive colors, using algorithms that measure electrode stimulations, according to Second Sight. The device will provide sharper images, and be able to focus eyesight like we do a computer screen, increasing resolution and brightness.

Over in Germany, a leading bionic eye product called the Alpha IMS is a self-contained bionic eyewhich means instead of an (awkward) external camera, it has a built-in sensor sending signals to the retina. The other major advantage is it uses 25 times the electrodes of the Argus II, which greatly increases resolution. Bionic eye researchers at University of New South Wales in Australia predict there will be a fully functioning artificial eye available by 2020.

The next great leap forward will be to bypass the eye and go straight to the brain. At this point, many visually impaired people aren't able to benefit from the implant, which requires a functioning retina to work. That leaves people with damaged retinas or that have lost their vision to infection, or diseases like glaucoma or diabetes, out of luck. Second Sight is "working on a new implant that bypasses even the retinal layer, and implants electrodes directly onto the visual region of the brain," Second Sight CEO Dr. Robert Greenberg told the BBC. A trial for this is currently scheduled for five blind patients with Age-Related Macular Degeneration. This could herald the breakthrough millions of blind people have been waiting for.

It inevitably conjures up scenes from science fiction. Take the ocular enhancements of Star Trek's Geordie La Forge, who has infrared sight, night vision, and telescopic vision. The developments in retinal implant technology now raises the question: Are these these seemingly sci-fi upgrades possible for everyone in the future?

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Bionic Eyes Can Already Restore Vision, Soon They'll Make It Superhuman