Revolutionary Eye Injection Saved My Sight, Says First-Ever Patient (bbc.com) 10
Doctors say they have achieved the previously impossible -- restoring sight and preventing blindness in people with a rare but dangerous eye conditon called hypotony. From a report: Moorfields hospital in London is the world's first dedicated clinic for the disorder and seven out of eight patients given the pioneering treatment have responded to the therapy, a pilot study shows. One of them -- the first-ever -- is Nicki Guy, 47, who is sharing her story exclusively with the BBC.
She says the results are incredible: "It's life-changing. It's given me everything back. I can see my child grow up. "I've gone from counting fingers and everything being really blurry to being able to see." Currently, she can see and read most lines of letters on an eye test chart. She is one line away from what is legally required for driving - a massive change from being partially sighted, using a magnifying glass for anything close up and having to navigate around the house and outside largely using memory.
"If my vision stays like this for the rest of my life it would be absolutely brilliant. I may not ever be able to drive again but I'll take that!" she says. With hypotony, pressure within the eyeball becomes dangerously low, leading it to cave in on itself.
She says the results are incredible: "It's life-changing. It's given me everything back. I can see my child grow up. "I've gone from counting fingers and everything being really blurry to being able to see." Currently, she can see and read most lines of letters on an eye test chart. She is one line away from what is legally required for driving - a massive change from being partially sighted, using a magnifying glass for anything close up and having to navigate around the house and outside largely using memory.
"If my vision stays like this for the rest of my life it would be absolutely brilliant. I may not ever be able to drive again but I'll take that!" she says. With hypotony, pressure within the eyeball becomes dangerously low, leading it to cave in on itself.
Fluid (Score:4, Funny)
Blinkerfluid was just low. Easy peasy!
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Not just one. More like 12.
"The treatment is given once every three to four weeks for around 10 months in total."
Re: An injection IN YOUR EYE? (Score:2)
I had one before, and fainted. Nevertheless, it was medically necessary.
Re: (Score:2)
The alternative can be a gradual decline into blindness. Juice me up, baby.
Honestly, I'm more weirded out by the fact that it's a gel getting injected. But still... it means being able to see.
Re: An injection IN YOUR EYE? (Score:2)
You do realise that the eyes normal filling is gel like right? This is why people suffer detached retinas as they age, the gel becomes stiffer and rips the retina. If your eye is healthy, they can use saline to replace the gel fluid ( if you have massive floater problems), buts a risky operation.
Life-changing (Score:2)
I can see my child grow up.
Sorry to hear that. When they come home with purple hair, tats, piercings, baggy clothes and a skateboard, you'll beg for your blindness back.
Surprisingly simple (Score:2)
"Hypotony" == "low pressure in the eye". Pumping up the eye with some fluid to increase the pressure feels like an intuitive solution to the problem.
I'm sure an ophthalmologist could point out twenty ways in which making this solution work wasn't straightforward, but regardless it's cool to see when the "simple" approach works the way you'd hope.