Have you noticed that many older adults around us struggle with central vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD)? In advanced cases, geographic atrophy (GA) can develop, leaving patients unable to perform visual tasks like reading and face recognition and even resulting in blindness. Worldwide, over 8 million people are affected, and that number is climbing.
Recently, California-based Science Corporation achieved a breakthrough: their PRIMA retinal implant restored partial vision in a clinical trial with 38 patients, allowing some to read smoothly again and offering new hope for millions of visually impaired people worldwide.
How PRIMA Technology Works
PRIMA restores visual input by bypassing damaged photoreceptors, directly stimulating bipolar cells in the retina. It comprises two main parts:
- Micro Photovoltaic Array: This sub-retinal implant has 378 honeycomb-like pixels, each converting infrared light from special glasses into electrical signals, which then directly stimulate retinal cells.
- Special Glasses: These project images captured from the external environment, sending infrared signals to the implant for visual data processing.
This system circumvents non-functional rods and cones, activating healthy bipolar cells to restore visual function. In short, it uses photovoltaic pixels to replace lost photoreceptors, with infrared light transmitting external signals to the implant, which then produces electrical signals processed by the brain for visual perception.
In this global clinical trial, PRIMA was implanted in 38 patients with geographic atrophy, with many regaining the ability to read letters, short text, and even recognize faces. Astonishingly, one patient’s vision improved by 59 letters—equivalent to moving from near-blindness to nearly normal vision, with a jump from logMAR 1.5 to 0.32, or on the standard logMAR chart, from 0.1 to 1.2. This enabled them to read fluently again.
Remarkable Results
On average, participants improved by 23 letters, equivalent to 4.6 lines of vision on the logMAR chart, with vision going from 0.1 to 0.56. For those who were nearly blind, this restored enough sight to return to daily activities like reading, working, and interacting with others.
According to Science Corp, this is the first conclusive evidence showing that visually impaired patients can regain fluent reading ability—a huge leap forward for the field. The company hopes to bring this technology to market within a few years.
The macula—the central part of the retina responsible for detailed vision—has always been crucial for precision visual tasks, and geographic atrophy has made this central vision loss nearly irreversible. Traditional treatments can only slow degeneration, rarely restoring sight.
PRIMA’s implant represents the first clinical demonstration of the potential to restore substantial visual function, helping patients rediscover the world they thought they had lost. For the millions suffering from AMD, this could be a revolutionary advancement.
Reference:
Science Corporation News