Countless number of inventions and technology has been made to provide a healthier life style or cure diseases. Simple tools such as wheelchairs help the people who have trouble walking. Medication has been developed to cure common bacteria, all the way to battling cancer. In-vitro fertilization has helped millions of people around the world and the list goes on and on. Even with all these advancements the human vision was thought to be impossible to replicate and was a field of unknown.

From now on things have changed. A California based company ‘Second Sight Medical Products’ is about to launch the first bionic eye in Europe and the United States. The eye named Argus ll has already been approved by European regulators and the US Food and Drug Administration is soon to follow. The Argus ll was developed to benefit people who suffer for retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease that affect about 100,000 people in the US.

Retinitis pigmentosa is a disease that results in the degeneration of the retinal photoreceptors. The Argus ll consists of 60 electrodes which are to be implanted in the retina, and glasses fitted with a special mini camera. It is a device to replace the degenerated photoreceptors in the patient’s eye. The electrodes convert light that come into the eyes via the special camera, then releases electrochemical pulses that are transmitted to the brain through the optic nerve. 30 people between the ages of 28 and 77 took part in a clinical trial. All of them were fully blind. Outcomes varied by participant ranging from people who claimed to see in blurry black and white, to people who could read newspaper headlines and even see in color. The developers claimed that most people will see in black and white, and bionic eyes for color vision are under development. For every more electrode that is implanted in the retina the patient will get higher resolution. Currently the Argus ll has 60 electrodes but some models that are being worked on contain up to 400 electrodes.

Daniel Palanker of California’s Stanford University is trying to replace the electrodes with smaller tiny photovoltaic cells. In theory up to 5,000 cells can be implanted giving the patient 10 times the resolution of the current technology. The bionic eye technology is a big breakthrough for the blind and is giving hope to the blind around the world. Unfortunately there is a downside to the bionic eye. Argus ll may give off hope; however the price tag on this new technology may not benefit everyone. The Argus ll is available in several European countries for 73,000 euros($99,120) and the price in the US has not been set but is likely to be higher. The price may break some hearts but note that this is the first bionic eye. Grace Shen, a member of the National Eye institute that has supported the bionic eye projects said “I think the bionic eye is something that is going to work in some patients and is not going to work with all patients, but we must take notice of the exciting time ahead”