Doctors presume that within about five years or so, there will be a cure for the most common form of blindness. AMD, age-related macular degeneration, is when the small part in the center of your eye, the macula, begins to decay due to age. This form of blindness causes severe vision limitations. Especially for those whose ages are above 60. Two elder patients in the UK underwent a procedure back in 2015 and their results have been wonderful!
Degeneration of the Macula
There are two main types of AMD. Dry form and wet form. Dry form is when drusen, tiny yellow deposits, start building up within your eye. As they get bigger and grow in numbers, your vision will begin to distort. Eventually leading to being incapable of seeing due to blind spots and/or just loss of all central vision. On the other hand, you have wet form. This is when blood vessels begin to leak blood into your retina. Once again, the build up will eventually lead to blind spots and loss of all central vision. Reading becomes extremely difficult in even early stages of AMD. However, progression with further macular degeneration makes it impossible to read even a word.
Experiment Gone Right!
The London Project to Cure Blindness was behind the breakthrough. Two of their patients were experiencing extreme dismay due to loss of vision. They were unable to read and had much difficulty seeing most of anything. The experiment consisted of a patch of stem cells that may be applied to the damaged area of the eye. Here are some statements from one of the patients:
“In the months before the operation my sight was really poor and I couldn’t see anything out of my right eye,” he said. “I was struggling to see things clearly, even when up close.
“After the surgery my eyesight improved to the point where I can now read the newspaper and help my wife out with the gardening. It’s brilliant what the team have done and I feel so lucky to have been given my sight back.”
Their hopes are that this will eventually be a low-cost procedure that can be done for those of all income rates. Along the lines of a cataract surgery!
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