# Implant restores sight in macular degeneration patients

> The Prima system, approved in Europe, combines a retinal implant with camera glasses to restore vision for people with advanced age-related macular degeneration.
- Title: Implant restores sight in macular degeneration patients
- Summary: The Prima system, approved in Europe, combines a retinal implant with camera glasses to restore vision for people with advanced age-related macular…
- Keywords: prima system, macular degeneration, retinal implant, science corporation, vision restoration, medical device, technology, science, Implant, restores, sight, macular
- Source: MIT Technology Review — https://technologyreview.com/2026/10/16/1145840/prima-implant-restores-sight-macular-degeneration-patients
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: prima system, macular degeneration, retinal implant, science corporation, vision restoration, medical device, technology, science
## Macular degeneration affects millions
Age-related macular degeneration affects more than five million people around the world. Until now, no treatment could restore their vision. The Prima system changes that.
## How Prima works
Prima combines a retinal implant with camera-equipped eyeglasses. It replaces photoreceptors, the cells that convert light into electrical signals, and transmits visual information directly to healthy eye circuitry.
## Approval and results
Prima was approved in Europe in July and is awaiting FDA clearance in the US. After training sessions, more than eighty percent of recipients were able to read, do crosswords, and use their phones.

> more than 80% of recipients were able to read, do crosswords, and use their phones
## The system's components
Glasses with a miniature camera capture video at roughly five megapixels at thirty frames per second.A handheld processor converts this to infrared signals.
## The implant powers itself
The implant contains three hundred seventy-eight pixels, each with an electrode and two photovoltaic cells.
## Key takeaway

The Prima implant system, approved in Europe and awaiting FDA clearance, restores sight in patients with advanced macular degeneration by replacing damaged photoreceptors with an artificial retinal implant.