In the Star Trek TV series, Commodore Geordi La Forge was born blind but regained his sight using a special device. This fiction from Star Trek is now a reality through an implant developed by Science Corporation, a company from California.
A 2mm square implant called Prima was placed on the retinas of 38 blind clinical trial participants and it successfully restored vision. To return to see participants are given a pair of glasses equipped with a camera. The camera signal is then sent to the Prima surface which is covered with 378 pixels that are sensitive to infrared light. Prima then sends a severe electrical signal to the brain which then converts it into an image that can be understood by humans.
The viewed image looks like a low resolution screen in black and white. Although this system does not provide a view like the normal human eye, it is still good enough to allow the test subjects to go back to reading books and playing cards. Because the system is camera-based, there is also a built-in zoom function allowing the implant recipient to enlarge the image they want to see.
In addition to Prima, this year Neuralink received FDA approval to test the Blindsight Implant developed by them. Unlike Prima, Blindsight will send image signals directly to the part of the brain receiving the implant.