A New Way to See Again

What does it take to restore the sight of a blind man? Not a miracle - just a one-hour operation. That's what happened to a seventy-year-old man with bilateral corneal blindness after getting a new synthetic corneal transplant.

It's called KPro and involves minimal cutting and stitching. The center of the implant is clear and surrounded by a skirt made of biomimetic material much like the natural structural support in our tissues. Cells called fibroblasts from the eye wall colonize the skirt and produce proteins like collagen, the main component of connective tissue. As these cells continue to proliferate, the implant permanently integrates within weeks.

Right now, people with corneal blindness must wait for donated corneas from people who have died. One report says there's only one cornea for every seven on the transplant list. And artificial corneas on the market don't integrate into the body, so they carry infection risk. They're also rigid, sometimes raising eye pressure causing glaucoma.

Corneal blindness is the fourth leading cause of blindness around the world behind cataracts, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. The eye surgeons who implanted KPro were impressed with how easy it was and how soon the man was able to recognize his family and read letters on the eye chart.

If clinical trials of KPro are successful in the US, France, Canada and the Netherlands, this will be an amazing option for people who've lost their ability to see.