After two years of blindness, a 72 year-old woman in Hawaii can see once more.

She recently underwent a four-hour bionic eye implant surgery at the Hawaii Eye Surgery Center in Honolulu. Doctors from Eye Surgery Center of Hawaii report the successful surgery partially restored her vision.

Like Us on Facebook

She's the first woman to undergo such operation in the Asia Pacific region. The bionic eye transplant works for people with eye problem due to hereditary disease such as retinitis pigmentosa. This condition causes vision impairment.

For now, the woman can only see shades of gray. But as she recovers in the coming weeks, doctors expect her vision to slowly improve. It's possible that within two months, she'll be able to make out shapes, movement and up to nine colors.

"She'll actually start to see motion, actually start to see somebody walk into the room and be able to see different shades of grey,' said Dr. Gregg Kokame.

The microchip implant must be paired with special glasses. A camera in the glasses will process the outside world, using the microchip to transport those images through the retina and optic nerve and into the brain.

At the moment, her vision is still limited since the technology is new but doctors are confident her vision will become broader. It will take two weeks after the surgery before the patient can use her new device, the doctors said.

The procedure was covered by Medicare since patient is elderly. The bionic eye transplant procedure costs US$144,000. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the procedure.

The bionic eye was developed by Dr. Mark Humayan, who expressed his hopes the device will help more people in the future.

TagsHawaiian Woman Restores Vision Using Bionic Eyes, bionic eyes, bionic, Hawaiian woman, blind woman, vision restoration, vision impairment