Two men have had their eyesight partially restored following the implanting of a 3mm microchip behind their retina.

The operations took place at London’s Oxford Eye Hospital and King’s College Hospital and the two men, Chris James and Robin Millar, regained the ability to see light and some shapes once the chips were activated following the procedure.

The chip used in the trial operations contains 1,500 pixels which simulate photoreceptor rods and cones in the eye and is able to detect light. The information that it picks up is transmitted to the brain and translated into a “…field of vision…limited to a window the size of a CD case held at arm’s length.”

Both James and Millar are sufferers of retinitis pigmentosa and the chip has been designed specifically to benefit those with the disease. Macular degeneration sufferers may one day also benefit from the implant, which was created by German company Retina Implant AG.

Source: BBC and DigitalTrends