Non-invasive current stimulation has been shown to improve the vision of people with optic nerve damage, previously thought to lead to permanent impairments.

A new study featuring 42 subjects found administering low levels of non-invasive, repetitive, transorbital alternating current stimulation for between 30 and 40 minutes per day over a period of ten days "significantly" reduces visual impairment.

All of the group had lesions which had long passed the early recovery phase, and neither the people taking part in the study or the researchers knew which subjects were assigned to which group. On average, those in the group which received the treatment experienced a 41 per cent reduction in visual field loss, while those who were actively treated reported an improvement in general vision.

Optic nerve damage occurs as a result of trauma, inflammation, disease or deterioration.

Dr. Bernhard A Sabel, researcher and senior author of the study, published in Brain Stimulation, said: "Our findings are important because they show that partial blindness can be reversed. We show for the first time that partial blindness can be reduced by a short-lasting therapeutic procedure using non-invasive electrical current stimulation."

Researchers at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford are developing new technology that can restore vision to people with very low sight.

The computer aided device uses a small camera, like the one in your mobile phone, and tiny LED lights set within an unobtrusive pair of glasses to produce images of the physical world. Dr Stephen Hicks, who presented the technology at this year’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, commented that the glasses could help people with macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
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