A blind woman fitted with a "bionic eye" has spoken of her joy after she was able to tell the time for the first time in more than five years.
Rhian Lewis, 49, was given the retinal implant as part of an ongoing trial at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.
Surgeons at the Oxford Eye Hospital implanted a tiny electronic chip at the back of her right eye's retina in a bid to help her see.
The Cardiff mother has suffered from retinitis pigmentosa - an inherited disorder - since she was five.
The condition causes gradual deterioration of the light-detecting cells in the retina, which can lead to blindness.
Miss Lewis is completely blind in her right eye and has virtually no vision in her left eye.
The implant, made by German firm Retina Implant AG, was placed in her eye in June.
During follow-up tests, Miss Lewis was asked to look at a large cardboard clock.
She said "oh my God" when she realised she had managed to tell that the time was three o'clock.
The implant - an array of around 1500 light sensors which sends pulsed electrical signals to nerve cells - is connected to a tiny computer that sits underneath the skin behind the ear.
Describing the moment the device was turned on, Miss Lewis said: "They said I might not get any sensation and then all of a sudden within seconds there was like this flashing in my eye."
Miss Lewis was then taken to the cloisters of New College, Oxford, to see if she could make out its features.
She said: "I walked up the street, and the lady from social services said to me to point out anything I thought might or might not be there.
"And the first thing I thought 'there might be something there,' there was a car, a silver car, and I couldn't believe it, because the signal was really strong."
The "bionic eye" as a treatment for retinitis pigmentosa has been tested since 2012.
Miss Lewis is the first patient outside Germany to be implanted with a newer, second-generation device.
Professor Robert MacLaren, who is leading the research at Oxford, said: "What Rhian and others are trying to do is reactivate a part of the brain that hasn't been doing anything for the last 10 years or so," he said.
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