The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first artificial retina, an implanted device that replicates some of the function of the retina, helping to restore vision to people blinded with a rare genetic disorder, the agency said Thursday. To replicate this, the Argus II device consists of special glasses outfitted with a video camera and a video processing unit that sends signals to a wireless receiver implanted in the eye. This system, called Argus II, allows visual signals to bypass the damaged portion of the retina and be transmitted to the brain. Enlarge Image Close Second Sight Medical Products/Reuters The 'Argus II implant' made by Second Sight Medical Products Inc. of Sylmar, California is shown in this handout artist's rendition 
 
 Argus II is set to become available later this year in U.S. clinical centers, and Second Sight said it would be adding sites to make the therapy more readily available. Video cameras mounted on glasses capture the visual information in the form of light; the data are then transmitted wirelessly to the implant to trigger electrodes in the chip to stimulate pixels of light on the retina. This information is then sent to the brain and processed normally as an image. Earlier The Quest to Create a Bionic Eye Gets Clearer 1/28/13 1/28/13 
 
 "This is a game changer in sight-affecting diseases, that represents a huge step forward for the field and for these patients who were without any available treatment options until now," said Second Sight Chief Executive Robert Greenberg. Brian Mech, vice president of business development at the company, said the system will cost more than $100,000 when it is launched in the United States, sometime this year. "The fact that many patients can use the Argus implant in their activities of daily living such as recognizing large letters, locating the position of objects, and more, has been beyond our wildest dreams, yet the promise to the patients is real and we expect it only to improve over time," said Mark Humayun, a doctor and medical professor at the University of Southern California who was involved with developing the device. Photo 
 
 The Argus II was approved under a special F.D.A. program designating it a “humanitarian use device,” which Dr. Eydelman said applied to therapies that would be used for fewer than 4,000 people a year. In October, advisers to the FDA voted unanimously to approve the device. The Argus II was approved for use in Europe in 2011 and has been implanted in 30 patients in a clinical trial that began in 2007. advisory panel voted unanimously last September to recommend approval, finding that benefits outweighed the risks. With a number of academic collaborators, they fashioned an early retinal implant from a cochlear implant for the ear with 16 electrodes, each of which stimulated a small area of the retina.
– The FDA has approved the first use of an artificial retina or "bionic eye" to give the blind limited vision, reports the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Users wear glasses outfitted with a video camera that transmits visual data to electrodes implanted in the eye; the signals bypass damaged parts of the retina and move along to the brain for processing. It is nowhere near full vision—users might be able to make out the contours of a person or the contrast of a curb from the road, for instance—but as one trial user puts it, “When you don’t have nothing, this is something. It’s a lot.” The device, called Argus II and made by Second Sight Medical Products in California, won the FDA's blessing to treat those with retinitis pigmentosa. It had already been approved in Europe, and it's hailed as just the start in similar technology. “We have a lot of exciting things sitting in the wings, multiple approaches being developed now," says a top official at the National Eye Institute. The Argus II should be available later this year in the US, but it's pricey—about $100,000, reports Reuters.