A Blind Man Sees His Birthday Candles Again, Thanks to a Bionic Eye

A brain implant helped restore his sight after a tragic car crash

Emily Mullin
OneZero
Published in
7 min readNov 18, 2019

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Jason Esterhuizen, who lost his eyesight in a car accident, practices locating objects and walking after getting a brain implant that’s meant to create artificial vision. Photo credit: UCLA Health

InIn December 2011, a horrific car accident knocked Jason Esterhuizen unconscious. When he woke up in a hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, hours away from his hometown, he couldn’t see. The crash had destroyed his eyes and left him completely…

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Emily Mullin
OneZero

Former staff writer at Medium, where I covered biotech, genetics, and Covid-19 for OneZero, Future Human, Elemental, and the Coronavirus Blog.