British Doctors Hail ‘Cure for Blindness’ With Successful Treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
29th September 2015
AMD affects central vision which is what you see when focus straight ahead, according to NHS Choices. In AMD this vision becomes increasingly blurred, which means that reading becomes difficult, colours appear less vibrant and people’s face are difficult to recognise. By 2020, it’s predicted almost 700,000 people will have late-stage AMD in the UK.
However, after performing surgery on the 60-year patient, who was classified as legally blind, surgeons are optimistic of a breakthrough, although the full impact on her sight is known. She is one of 10 people to take part in the trial. After taking a single stem cell from an embryo and growing a patch of cells in a laboratory, these were then transplanted into the patient’s eye. The cells were taken unused embryos created during IVF treatment that went unused.