Bionic eye implants now allow blind people to read

Second Sight, a retinal prothesis manufacturing company, developed a bionic eye that allows patients with retinal failure or degeneration to once again see shapes and color.  This bionic eye is not actually an eye, rather, it is a pair of glasses with a built in camera and processor.  The camera reads light absorptions and sends information to the processor that modulates this information and transmits it to a diode running from the camera to the optic nerve.  The optic nerve then relays the signals to the brain where perception of sight is created.  The Argus II costs $115,000 and is currently in use by 50 patients.  This bionic eye is not near as perfect as the natural eye as it contains only 60 electrodes.  The electrodes correspond to the resolution of generated images, 1 electrode per pixel resolution.  This makes complex shapes difficult to recognize.

I found this article interesting because age-induced deteriorating eyesight is common in my family.  If my eyes do begin to fail later in life, it seems there will be plenty of options to have it restored.  Bionic eyes will only become more effective as technology advances and by the time my eyes do begin failing, I believe there will be a fully functional bionic alternative.  Eventually, bionic eyes could even become more effective than natural eyes.

http://www.naturalnews.com/038177_bionics_eye_implants_blind_people.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6368089.stm