NEWS of an experimental ‘bionic eye’ that could restore sight to thousands of blind people, has been welcomed by Dorset Blind Association.

It follows initial clinical trials of two sufferers of retinitis pigmentosa (a condition which causes the photoreceptor cells at the back of the eye to deteriorate) who have been able to see again after being implanted with a microchip at the back of the eye.

The wafer-thin chip reacts to light, sending an electronic signal picked by the optic nerve and processed by the brain into an image.

“You just have to admire the amazingly clever people who perform operations like this,” says Jonathan Holyhead, chief executive of Dorset Blind Association.

“While this treatment is still at an early stage, it does give real hope to thousands of people with sight loss.”

54-year-old Chris James, who has been blind for 20 years, reported: “It was like someone taking a photo with a flashbulb, a pulsating light, I recognised it instantly.”

The patients only have a small range of black and white vision – a rectangle about the size of a CD case held at arm’s length.

For now, Mr James can make out shapes and lines close up, although it is hoped that within a few weeks his brain will begin to more accurately interpret the signals received.