More than 350 blind people around the world have implants in their eyes made by Second Sight Medical Products to help restore some of their vision. But due to bankruptcy, the company abandoned this technology a few years ago. Now, if something goes wrong with implants, users will be left without help.Discuss
“This is fantastic technology and a lousy company,” said Ross Doerr, a Second Sight patient, in an interview with IEEE Spectrum.
Second Sight's Argus I and Argus II implants do not restore normal vision; people see grayscale objects that disappear when they move their head. And the results vary from person to person. Some users of the first such implants, which began to install ten years ago, already have difficulty distinguishing even the basic shapes. Others might even do things like skiing for now.
People who received the implants were told that updates and technology enhancements would be released in the future, such as software updates to increase the number of pixels in the system and improve thermal imaging, IEEE Spectrum reported. But these improvements were never implemented. In 2019, Second Sight said it plans to phase out retinal implant technology.
In 2020, the CEO left the company and most of the employees were laid off. Second Sight told IEEE Spectrum that the layoffs mean it is “unable to continue the same level of support and communication for Argus II centers and users.”
Second Sight now plans to merge with a biopharmaceutical company to work on drug delivery. Argus patients still don't know what this means to them and fear they'll be left with dead equipment that can't be fixed.
Source: IEEE Spectrum