Vision rehabilitation with the optic nerve visual prosthesis

A blind volunteer with retinitis pigmentosa has been chronically implanted with an optic nerve visual prosthesis. The axons of retinal ganglion cells have been successfully activated by electrical stimuli to evoke many distinct phosphenes over a large portion of the visual field. No sensations other than visual have been elicited. Controlled electrical stimulation of the optic nerve proved able to convey visual information useful for the localization and discrimination of objects.