WHAT WENT RIGHT 2002
New Sight - An eye implant gives some sight to a few, and hope to many.
By Cora Daniels

Every eye doctor dreads telling a patient that he will never see again. In 1987, after delivering such news to an 11-year-old Chicago boy, ophthalmologist Alan Chow vowed "no more." His hope was to create an artificial retina--a silicon microchip thinner then a strand of hair--that could be implanted in the eye. A year later he and his brother Vincent, an electrical engineer, sat down after Thanksgiving dinner to sketch ideas for a prototype: an implant that could convert light into electric current, which would stimulate damaged retina cells to work again and help combat the eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, a common cause of blindness.

Last May the brothers' vision became reality. Clinical trials revealed that six formerly blind people given the implant can now see. Their quality of sight ranges from the ability to see shadows and movement to one patient who can see faces for the first time in 15 years. The results were promising enough that the FDA gave the brothers' company, Optobionics, the go-ahead to expand its trials.

Source: Dec. 30, 2002 Issue - Fortune Magazine