The subject of science fiction movies has become a real life success story after surgeons in Pisa implanted the first ever bionic eye.
The surgery was performed on a 60-year-old patient from Prato who had lost sight in both eyes due to a degenerative retinal disease.
The four hour procedure took place in the Ophthalmic Surgery Department of the University Hospital of Pisa after nearly ten years of research and experimentation in the department.
The Argus II, as the computer device is known, will be calibrated in two weeks after the patient has recovered. It will allow the once blind man to see primitive images thanks to series of microscopic electrodes that connect the retina and a miniature camera.
Dr. Stanislao Rizzo, who performed the first-of-its-kind surgery, said that there had been no complications and expects the patient will regain "functional vision" in two weeks.
