Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A wireless microchip implanted in the back of patients’ eyes restored some vision for a group of people suffering from an incurable, progressive retinal disease, according to a study published Oct. 20, 2025, in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Currently the implant is an investigational device only, but if approved by public health agencies, “not only could this benefit patients with macular degeneration, but also other retinal degenerations like, for example, Stargardt disease (and) retinitis pigmentosa,” said Dr. Lisa Olmos de Koo, who helped design the study. She is a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a surgeon who cares for patients with debilitating retinal diseases.
See our item on the UW Medicine Newsroom:
https://newsroom.uw.edu/blog/chip-implant-restores-some-vision-lost-to-retinal-disease
A wireless microchip implanted in the back of patients’ eyes restored some vision for a group of people suffering from an incurable, progressive retinal disease, according to a study published Oct. 20, 2025, in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Currently the implant is an investigational device only, but if approved by public health agencies, “not only could this benefit patients with macular degeneration, but also other retinal degenerations like, for example, Stargardt disease (and) retinitis pigmentosa,” said Dr. Lisa Olmos de Koo, who helped design the study. She is a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a surgeon who cares for patients with debilitating retinal diseases.
See our item on the UW Medicine Newsroom:
https://newsroom.uw.edu/blog/chip-implant-restores-some-vision-lost-to-retinal-disease
