Retinal implant trial at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford

The world’s most advanced “bionic eye” retinal implant is being trialled at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

The chip is just over 3 mm across and less than a mm thick – it needs to be inserted at the back of the eye under the retina without damaging it. After preparing all the wiring which is fed from behind the ear to the back of the orbit, a flap is made in the wall of the eye in the white part known as the ‘sclera’. Another cut is then made through the blood vessel layer of the eye known as the ‘choroid’. From here it is still some way to the back of the eye and a smooth blue guide is first used to create a channel under the retina. Once in position, the blue guide protects the retina as the chip is slid in and carefully positioned close to the optic nerve. The blue guide is removed once the correct chip position has been obtained. This part of the operation is the most delicate and can take up to 2 hours.

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