Two blind men who thought they would never see their families again have had vision restored by Britain's first "bionic" eye operations.

Electronic receivers were implanted which take signals from a camera mounted in a pair of glasses.

The technology allows enough vision to find doorways, follow individuals, locate objects across the room and help with eating.

It gives new hope to sufferers of diseases affecting the retina for which there is no cure.

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Surgeons at Moorfields Eye Hospital in central London implanted the artificial retinal devices as part of a Europeanwide clinical trial.

The identity of the two patients, thought to be in their 50s, is being kept secret.

The trial aims to assist those with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of genetic eye diseases affecting the retina which cause progressive loss of vision over decades.

The camera and transmitter in the glasses send a wireless signal to the ultra-thin electronic receiver and electrode panel which are attached to the retina.

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