FDA OKs Tiny Telescope Cure For Elderly Blindness : The Two-Way : NPR - (Build 20100722150226) Macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in the elderly, may become a much more treatable problem in its end stages, thanks to a new implantable device which the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it has approved.
The approval means the device, essentially a tiny telescope made by VisionCare Opthalmic Technologies Inc., a private company based in Saratoga, Calif. was demonstrated to be safe and effective. The FDA said it was the first time the agency had approved such a device for treating the serious problem. The macula is the part of the retina responsible for the fine detail we see. When it is damaged by the condition, individuals can lose a good deal of their ability to recognize faces and other everyday sights most of us take for granted.
Tiny Eye Telescope Brings Back A World Of Sight : NPR - (Build 20100722150226) Stem-Cell-Coated Contact Lenses Are Curing the Blind. Researchers in Australia have come up with an outwardly simple but incredibly ingenious way of curing blindness caused by corneal damage: Take everyday contact lenses, already used by millions (including me), and infuse them with a patient's own stem cells.
After wearing them for about 2 weeks, test subjects reported a seemingly miraculous restoration of sight. Is it that easy? Most of the patients had only lost vision in one eye, so stem cells were harvested from their good eye and then plated onto contact lenses. After letting the stem cells repair damaged tissues, 2 of the 3 patients went from legally blind to being able to read some of an eye chart. Cure For Blindness? Optic Nerves Regenerated - (Build 20100722150226)