Finding A Cure For Blindness

The test s effectiveness is measured by how many letters patients can read on an eye chart.

Finding a cure for blindness.

The national eye institute nei suggest a number of simple steps that can be taken to ensure your eyes are as healthy as they can be. In december the fda approved the first gene therapy for an inherited disease a mutation in the gene rpe65 that causes a rare form of blindness. Wearing a colored filter over eyeglasses or a colored contact lens may enhance your perception of contrast between the confused colors. It s a terrible disease she said.

For blind people however the future of medicine is one step closer to reality. Even as crispr reaches milestones like this scientists continue to find new uses for it to treat genetic conditions. Having been approved by the fda in december the treatment will be the first of its kind to be trialed in. The next one that will hit clinics is a crispr treatment for a form of blindness called leber congenital amaurosis lca.

While certain treatments help some people better perceive colors it s important to find ways of adapting to color blindness. A completely blind individual is unable to see at all. Vision impairment can range from mild to sev. Right now they have nothing dr.

Blindness is strictly defined as the state of being totally sightless in both eyes. Kiran musunuru another gene editing expert at the university of pennsylvania said the treatment seems likely to work based on tests in human tissue mice and monkeys. In one day she had three calls from families seeking solutions to inherited blindness. The word blindness however is commonly used as a relative term to signify visual impairment or low vision meaning that even with eyeglasses contact lenses medicine or surgery a person does not see well.

It s not surprising that the first gene therapy that. Several clinical trials also show promise for treating various forms of retinal degeneration using stem cells. Eat a balanced diet and maintain a healthy weight. Smoking has been associated with increased risks of developing cataracts optic nerve damage and.