In a test on ten patients with retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease involving retinal degeneration, vision improved significantly.

FORBES: Banishing Blind Spots

Mr. Isacoff says technologies of this type could one day treat blinding diseases in humans such as retinitis pigmentosa.

WSJ: What Might Innovation Award Winners Look Like in Five or 10 Years?

Retinitis pigmentosa is a genetic disease that causes people to slowly lose their eyesight as time goes on and eventually become blind.

FORBES: Second Test Of Retinal Implant Shows Restored Vision To The Blind

Unbeknownst to them, he had what is known as Usher Syndrome, which also causes gradual blindness due to Retinitis Pigmentosa starting at birth.

FORBES: Spencer Tracy And His Son John

The chip contains 1500 pixels replacing the light-receiving cells that have died in retinitis pigmentosa patients by receiving external light and then transmitting those signals directly to the brain.

FORBES: Second Test Of Retinal Implant Shows Restored Vision To The Blind

In their study, the researchers used mammalian retinas with a degeneration of photoreceptors in order to have an experimental model of different degenerative pathologies of the retina, such as Retinitis Pigmentosa or macular degeneration.

FORBES: Artificial Retina From A Photovoltaic Polymer

The patients most likely to benefit from these devices are those with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare disease that damages and kills the cells in the retina a tissue layer at the back of the eye that process light.

WSJ: The Quest to Create A Bionic Eye Gets Clearer

Argus II is intended to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to induce visual perception in blind individuals with retinitis pigmentosa and has the capacity to offer life-changing visual capabilities to those currently unable to see anything except, at best, extremely bright lights.

ENGADGET: FDA clears Argus II 'bionic eye' for sale in the US (video)