The confusing mix of hype and hope.

world reported that music icon Stevie Wonder had said he might be able to see someday, thanks to an artificial retina being developed at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Wonder made the remark at a funeral, where, according to press accounts, the mourners jumped up and cheered. Many researchers in this small, high-risk field had a decidedly different reaction. Two weeks later, their disbelief turned to dismay when ophthalmologist Mark Humayun of Hopkins’s Wilmer Eye Institute appeared with Wonder on the television newsmagazine 20/20. “There is the possibility that Stevie Wonder could see?” host Barbara Walters asked. “Certainly, there is the possibility,” said Humayun, cautioning that he had yet to complete his exams of Wonder’s eyes. “We believe that something could be available for patients in the next 2 to 3 years.” Humayun and his colleague, ophthalmologist Eugene de Juan Jr., now both at the Doheny Retina Institute at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, have yet to implant their artificial retina in a single patient. “It was basically just hype,” charges rival Alan Chow, a pediatric ophthalmologist in Chicago, Illinois. Chow’s company, Optobionics, is developing a similar artificial retina now being tested in six patients—the only clinical trial of a permanently implanted device under way. Chow also emphasizes that Wonder, who became blind shortly after birth, would not be a good candidate for prosthetic eyes, as he likely has substantial damage to his retinas. But Humayun and others have accused Chow, too, of overstating his results. “He hasn’t shown any data, and it remains a mystery why,” says Humayun, who attended a Vitreous Society meeting last November where Chow claimed that his six patients had shown “substantial visual function improvements.” Before discussing details, Chow says he wants a scientific journal to publish his data. Welcome to the contentious, competitive world of research on the bionic eye. Bionics —be it restoring vision by implanting a silicon chip or replacing a damaged heart with a plastic one—lends itself to hyperbole. Researchers work at the extreme edges of biological knowledge, attempting feats that were earlier the things of myths. Many also have commercial ties and hope to profit from their research. Restoring vision, in particular, has a unique appeal, says ophthalmologist Eberhart Zrenner, who is working on an artificial retina with colleagues at the University