Hope For Blindness Cure With Laser Breakthrough

Millions of people could have their eyesight saved thanks to ground-breaking laser treatment that has the potential to eradicate the most common cause of blindness.

One of Britain's leading eye experts has developed a technique to reverse the disabling effects of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which leaves many older people unable to read, drive or live independently, and eventually robs them of sight in one or both eyes.

Professor John Marshall has developed a way of "cleaning" eyes which, due to the ageing process, have accumulated tiny particles of debris which start to cloud their sight. His pioneering technique uses a painless "short pulse" laser to solve the otherwise intractable problem of how to help the eye's waste disposal system do its job after it has been weakened by age.

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[edit on 5-7-2009 by Scooby Doo]

Thanks for this!

I like that the idea that they believe they can both prevent and reverse AMD.

S & F

Nice find Scooby,

Seems alot easier than doing this

Tooth seeing eye

Whats your point of view Scoobs??

!0 flags 2 replies.........howz that work ..

[edit on 5/7/2009 by scubagravy]

reply to post by scubagravy


Yeah. I think that anything that can help "prevent blindness" or bring back someones eye sight is a huge advancement in medical science.

!0 flags 2 replies.........howz that work ..

lol, yeah, I hope someone else post something soon. I guess you guys have made them all speechless...just kidding

[edit on 6-7-2009 by Scooby Doo]

Thats wonderful news, and it gives me hope that someday they can work on doing a really effective cure for the type of blindness i have.

I have about the worst case of keratoconus that doc's have seen... frustrating to say the least heh

Anyhow... It is wonderful news that they are working towards a breakthrough in AM it's a horrible thing to not only get older and have many issues but to go blind as well

Ahh youth is wasted on the young!

Is it just me or are wonder cures coming out left right and center all of a sudden? Anyhoo this is great news for millions of people,nice catch!

This is all true and such good news! I am a family friend of three brothers that all suffer from RP. Which if anybody knows effects the amound of 'red light' that the person can see. In effect leads to night blindness and only a limited amount of daytime vision. The older of the brothers went for laser surgery and had his cataracts taken out and a new lens put in his eye. To his amazement and mine his vision was most improved, not just the misting/fogging effect had gone but his 'bad eye' is now working better than his 'good eye' which he will have operated on soon. He informs me that he can see the TV rather clearly now and has even moved his chairs further back in his room as he used to sit right in front of the box.

For me it's a blessing because like myself he is a playstation addict and now we can't wait to play each other. Before it would mean me giving constant directions... Jeff to the Left Left Left or Right Right, no stright on.

The other brothers are seriously considering the treatment as well which makes me very happy for them. Loss of sight is something that I hope nobody on ATS has to suffer with because it means a whole different world and life can be extreamly hard.

Thanks for the post OP lets hope more people benefit from this treatment!

Originally posted by Jomina
Thats wonderful news, and it gives me hope that someday they can work on doing a really effective cure for the type of blindness i have.

I have about the worst case of keratoconus that doc's have seen... frustrating to say the least heh

Anyhow... It is wonderful news that they are working towards a breakthrough in AM it's a horrible thing to not only get older and have many issues but to go blind as well

Ahh youth is wasted on the young!

I have the exact same kind of eye problem as you. I was told that mine is the wost and most severe in the world too and yes its frustrating, so I sympathize.
I dont have a lnik but they are working on a new therapy that uses your own stem cells to make new corneas that uses a temporarily worn contact lens that you wear for about nine or ten days.
Its origanlly being developed for people with corneal damage but i'd imagine that it'd help us as that is essentially what we have. I guess its a lot like corneal transplant but id' be alot easier, and cheaper as its being developed for third world countries, and essentially you just wear a contact lense and it uses your own cells. No donors are needed as far as i know.

I'm sorry I dont have a web site for the new procedure, i dont even know the official name and believe me i wish i did as i really want to know:
where do i sign up?!!

Interesting information.

I have glaucoma and have been told that I have to have SLT (selective laser trabeculoplasty). I've been putting it off. I have so many (cardiac) reactions to drugs I'm just not comfortable with taking a chance yet.

Very cool. I have a relative with macular Degeneration. Maybe one day he will be able to see like he used to, again. That wold be great.

I will have to keep an eye out on this.

That is pretty cool, I also say something with nano microchips implanted on the retina or cornea, one of them, that acted just like the rods and cones in your eyes to enable blind people to see again, its in the clinical trials still but it seems very, very promising.
No one's body has rejected the implants yet and most have regained 70-100% of vision in the trials


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absolutely great news, great find scoob

this is definitely worth at least 2 boxes of scooby snacks


seems there are a lot of great things being done medically with lasers, really interested as to where we will be in 20 years from now

reply to post by Dramey


*Scooby Goes Mad For Scooby Snacks*

This year has been pretty impressive in terms of scienctific diascoveries. The have been a lot of great finds and advancements.