Recent technological advances are having a transformative impact on a variety of retinal conditions including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) – the leading cause of permanent loss of sight in the adult population, affecting 200 million people worldwide.

In this disease, photoreceptors in the central retina gradually degenerate, resulting in the loss of high-resolution central vision, which impairs patients’ ability to read and recognise faces. An innovative implant developed in the US by researchers at Stanford University promises to help by replacing the lost photoreceptors with photovoltaic pixels. These convert light into electric current to stimulate the second-order neurons in the retina, thereby restoring the flow of information in the visual system.

“The implant is completely wireless, it’s powered by light, and it can be implanted relatively easily,” says Daniel Palanker, professor of ophthalmology at the university and lead designer of...