How bionic eyes are helping people read again

For Sheila Irvine, losing her central vision meant losing the pleasure of reading. “I was an avid bookworm, and I wanted that back,” she told UCL. After receiving a wireless retinal implant at Moorfields Eye Hospital, she began recognising letters again. Her story illustrates the promise of PRIMA: a tiny chip paired with camera glasses that may restore some central vision.

When the light sensors fail

Geographic atrophy is an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). It damages the macula, the central part of the retina used for reading and recognising faces. Light-sensitive cells called photoreceptors die, leaving gaps in central vision, although peripheral vision can remain (Figure 1).

How PRIMA works

Surgeons place a silicon chip beneath the retina. It measures just 2 mm by 2 mm and is 30 micrometres thick (Figure 2). A camera on the glasses captures the scene, and a pocket processor prepares the image. The glasses then project the processed image onto the implant using near-infrared light (Figure 3). This light has a wavelength of 880 nanometres, just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum (roughly 400 to 700 nanometres), so the eye cannot see it. Using invisible light avoids the glare and potential damage that bright visible light could cause. 

The chip’s 378 light-sensitive pixels turn that light into tiny electrical pulses. These pulses trigger the surviving bipolar cells to send electrical signals, doing the job the lost photoreceptors once did. The signals travel through the retina and along the optic nerve to the brain, which interprets them as a pattern of light. Using controls on the pocket processor, patients can adjust zoom, contrast and brightness, and spend months learning to make sense of the resulting artificial vision.

What the trial showed

The PRIMAvera trial, led by Professor Frank Holz at the University of Bonn and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine in October 2025, tested the implant in 38 people with severe vision loss at 17 hospitals in Germany, France, the UK, Italy and the Netherlands. It was funded by Science Corporation, which develops the device, and the Moorfields NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

At one year, 26 of the 32 participants assessed (81%) had improved by at least two lines on an eye chart. With PRIMA glasses, the average gain was approximately five lines; participants could use digital zoom during testing. Separately, 27 of 32 reported reading letters, numbers and words at home. Average remaining natural peripheral visual acuity was unchanged. “In the history of artificial vision, this represents a new era,” said Mr Mahi Muqit, who led the UK arm of the trial at Moorfields.

Reasons for caution

The study recorded 26 serious adverse events related to the procedure or device in 19 participants. Of these, 21 occurred within two months of surgery; 20 of those resolved within two months of onset. The most common was raised pressure inside the eye; others included small tears in the retina, bleeding beneath the retina and holes in the macula. Some complications required further surgery.

Researchers compared participants’ vision before and after implantation, and with and without the glasses, but there was no separate randomised control group. Longer follow-up will help establish how durable the benefits are.

These results also concern selected patients with geographic atrophy, not blindness of every cause. The device does not restore normal sight, and improvements on an eye chart should not be mistaken for effortless everyday reading.

Support beyond the operation

Earlier implants offer a warning. In 2019, the company Second Sight announced that it would phase out its Argus II retinal implant. The technology magazine IEEE Spectrum later documented patients struggling to obtain repairs and support. Therefore, PRIMA raises a question that extends beyond the trial: who will maintain the equipment and support its users throughout their lives?

What comes next

In July 2026, Science Corporation announced PRIMA’s European commercial launch after the device received CE marking, which shows that a product meets European safety and performance requirements. This allowed PRIMA to be sold in 30 European countries. The company’s website also states that the device is registered for supply in the UK. However, this does not, by itself, establish routine NHS access.

Regardless, for some people with profound central sight loss, PRIMA offers the chance to read words again. For readers such as Sheila, that matters enormously.

Written by Saad Sheikh

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REFERENCES

Holz FG, Le Mer Y, Muqit MMK, et al. Subretinal photovoltaic implant to restore vision in geographic atrophy due to AMD. N Engl J Med. 2026;394(3):232–242. Published online 20 October 2025. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2501396. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2501396 (accessed 28 September 2026).

UCL News. Pioneering eye device restores reading vision to blind eyes. 20 October 2025. Available from: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/oct/pioneering-eye-device-restores-reading-vision-blind-eyes (accessed 28 September 2026).

Macular Society. Revolutionary implant for dry AMD – your questions answered. 27 November 2025. Available from: https://www.macularsociety.org/about/media/news/2025/november/revolutionary-implant-for-dry-amd-your-questions-answered/ (accessed 28 September 2026).

Strickland E, Harris ME. Their bionic eyes are now obsolete and unsupported. IEEE Spectrum. 15 February 2022. Available from: https://spectrum.ieee.org/bionic-eye-obsolete (accessed 28 September 2026).

Science Corporation. Science Corp. announces European commercial launch of PRIMA, the only treatment to restore functional central vision to patients with geographic atrophy caused by age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. 22 July 2026. Available from: https://science.xyz/news/ce-mark/ (accessed 28 September 2026).

Science Corporation. PRIMA. Undated. Available from: https://prima.science.xyz/ (accessed 28 September 2026).

Muqit MMK, Le Mer Y, Olmos de Koo L, et al. Prosthetic visual acuity with the PRIMA subretinal microchip in patients with atrophic age-related macular degeneration at 4 years follow-up. Ophthalmol Sci. 2024;4(5):100510. doi:10.1016/j.xops.2024.100510. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xops.2024.100510 (accessed 9 October 2026).