In the normal visual pathway, light travels through the tear film, cornea, aqueous, pupil, lens, and vitreous, to activate the light sensitive photoreceptors and set up the trans-synaptic connections of the retina (Fig. 1). In cases where there is gross destruction of the eye like phthisis bulbi, restoration of vision is not possible. But in conditions where blindness is due to a disease in the photoreceptors in the retina like Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) (Fig. 2) or Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) (Fig. 3 a,b) wherein the neural connections are intact, in cortical tumours and lesions involving the visual pathways or occipital cortex wherein the photoreceptors are intact, there exists a scientific possibility wherein a device can be implanted at any location in this pathway to set up a neuronal electrical stimulation. Such a device is known as a visual prosthesis or bionic eye and the vision created is known as artificial vision. Incidentally, RP is the leading inherited cause of blindness, with 1.5 million people affected worldwide [2]. AMD seen in adults over 65 years is the leading cause of visual loss with 700,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the USA and 10 % of whom become legally blind each year. Moreover, these are a group of blind people who have had good vision all their life and have become blind at a time when all faculties are on the decline and daily survival requires vision [3]. Fig. 1 Human visual system [3] Fig. 2 Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) Fig. 3 (a) Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and (b) corresponding fundus fluorescein angiogram of the case Depending upon location along the visual pathway this prosthetic device could be in the visual cortex, on the optic nerve or at the retina.