The Argus II "bionic eyes" implant took years in the making, and now it is being made available to the public. The implant can let those afflicted with retinitis pigmentosa see again. Sort of.

While it's still a long way more to go to reach Star Trek Geordi LaForge's glasses quality, the artificial retina implant had to first gather a group for a test study. Now that the study has been completed, finding the patients to retrofit with the Argus II headsets.

The aid given to the wearers of Argus II headsets don't actually regain sight, but are rather fed enhanced outlines of objects before them. They will have to learn to interpret them. It also doesn't quite help those suffering from other sorts of blindness, but the folks over at Second Sight aren't finished with their mission yet.

A more advanced Argus II is in the works with an implant that will send visual data to the brain by bypassing the ocular nerve entirely.

Blindness may become a thing of the past. We're getting there, slowly but surely.

[Second Sight, via Singularity Hub]