"The fact that they have done something that sounds a little bit better than the last set of results is great," Sommer added. "It's terrific. But this approach is really in its infancy. And I guarantee that it will be a long time before they get to the point where they can really restore vision to people using prosthetics."
Other advances may offer benefits in the meantime, he said. "We now have new therapies that we didn't have even five years ago," Sommer said. "So we may be reaching a state where the amount of people losing their sight will decline even as these new techniques for providing artificial vision improve. It may not be as sci-fi. But I think it's infinitely more important at this stage."
More information
For more on retinal degeneration, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
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