The tiny telescopic device can correct the effects of a disease which has no cure and causes blind spots and blurred vision that make even simple tasks a daily grind. In 2014 private patient Joan Gill, 87, became the first Briton to have the 12,000 CentraSight implant fitted to combat the effects of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). The device, which can be implanted during surgery lasting just an hour, enabled her to see her great-grandchildren for the first time.

Now it has been made available on the NHS after Manchester Royal Eye Hospital announced yesterday it could offer its patients the lifetransforming implant. It could lead to NHS eye hospitals nationwide offering the procedure which could benefit 600,000 people. For now, the hospital said it was prioritising the treatment to the most extreme sufferers of AMD in Greater Manchester. Only 600 surgical CentraSight implants have been fitted across the world with fewer than 50 in the UK

all to private-paying patients.

The device, which magnifies objects up to 2.7 times, is placed in the pupil. Images are projected on to the healthy part of the retina, allowing patients to use the central vision necessary to recognise faces and objects before them. It is backed up by data showing at least five years of sustained improvement in vision Felipe Dhawahir-Scala Surgeon Felipe Dhawahir-Scala, of the hospitals CentraSight team, hailed the new treatment. He said: The programme is a potentially lifechang

It is backed up by data showing at least five years of sustained improvement in vision. AMD has two main variants, the rarer wet AMD which can be partially treated with laser surgery or medication and the more common but untreatable dry AMD, which CentraSight is targeting.

I see.

great news.manchester leading the way again also

Looks like this is becoming more readily available

Is the the end of glaucoma? How the world's tiniest implant which you cannot see with the naked eye can stop you going blind

The 900 i-Stent is a hollow tube ten times smaller than a grain of rice
A surgeon has to use a high-powered microscope to place it in position
The tube drains off harmful fluid accumulating on the eyeball causing damage
Amazingly, the life-changing treatment takes only 30 minutes to complete

Little bigger than a grain of sand, this is officially the worlds smallest medical implant. Yet the tiny device is set to transform treatment for tens of thousands in the UK who are at risk of blindness due to glaucoma.

The 900 i-Stent a hollow metal tube about ten times smaller than a grain of rice is so minuscule it can only be implanted in the eye using a high-powered microscope.

Once in place, it drains off harmful fluid that accumulates in the eyeball and which puts pressure on the optic nerve, potentially causing irreversible vision loss.

Hundreds of patients have already benefited from the implant, which takes less than 30 minutes to fit. Many people have since been able to discard the drops they took up to three times a day to keep their condition under control.

Thousands more could now be in line for the microscopic implants after the devices were approved by the NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Eye surgeons are hopeful the procedure could revolutionise glaucoma treatment. Its early days but so far we have been getting very good results, says consultant ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist Madhu Nagar, who has pioneered use of the i-Stent at Mid Yorks Hospitals NHS Trust. I have done about 100 cases and between 60 and 70 per cent have seen a significant drop in pressure.

B12 obviously makes a huge difference to eyesight, because i am starting to be able to see much better, really suddenly. Tell people that.