Artificial corneas restore sight

By Brandie Umar - Executive Director of Content | August 26th, 2010

A breakthrough in opthalmology care came with the success of a surgery to transplant artificial corneas. Using the artificial corneas, eye-sight was restored in 6 out of 10 patients in the study. The success of the surgery was compounded by the biosynthetic corneas ability to react as a natural cornea and produce tears to moisten the eye.

The cornea acts as a lens, regulating the amount of light that can enter the eye and protecting the eye from infection caused by dust particles. If the cornea becomes clouded, light cannot enter the eye effectively which causes vision impairment and can lead to blindness. A cornea transplant is the only treatment for cornea damage and a shortage of human cornea donors is leading scientists to look for alternative treatment measures. According to the report published in journal

Science Translational Medicine, the artificial cornea developed using biosynthetic material could be the answer.

To produce the artificial cornea, collagen is grown in the laboratory and shaped around a contact lens to create a shape replicating that of a natural cornea. The biosynthetic material, once attached into the eye, functions effectively as the nerves and cells surrounding the cornea grow under and around the artificial cornea. Because the artificial cornea is shaped in a way that mimics the natural eye shape, contact lenses can be worn post surgery. By combining the use of the biosynthetic cornea with a contact lens, opthalmologists found that patients eyesight could be restored to almost perfect vision.

It is hoped that the same technology could be applied to further advances to treat other eyesight problems.