Injections restore vision, breakthrough success of medical scientists

Medical scientists have achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of a rare eye disease, hypotony. A patient named Nicky Guy has regained his vision for the first time with a new injection they have discovered. He told the British media BBC, "I could only count my fingers, everything looked very blurry. (After taking this new treatment) now I can see."

According to the BBC report, hypotony is being treated at Moorfields Hospital in London. Experts at Moorfields have developed a low-cost, transparent and water-based gel called hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. They achieved success only after applying it regularly to the main part of the eye. Usually, one injection is given every three to four weeks. Patients see the benefits only after completing a 10-month course.

Hypotony causes the pressure inside the eye to drop dangerously, causing the eye to break or sink on its own. Nikki's eye problems started shortly after her son was born in 2017. She was given a lot of silicone oil in her right eye.

She said the eye had lost its normal shape due to hypotony. But the silicone oil treatment didn't help much. A few years later, the same problem appeared in her left eye.

Nikki's doctor, Harry Petrushkin, said they decided to put something inside the eye that would allow her to see through. "We were worried about using such an experimental treatment on someone who only had one eye that was functioning," he said. "But in the end, we chose this as the solution, and it worked incredibly well."

"A man who was supposed to literally lose his sight in both eyes... is now living a normal life. It's amazing," Petrushkin added. He added that the treatment could restore vision to thousands of people. He said the treatment largely depends on whether the cells at the back of the eye are still functioning.

Nicky is now just one line shy of the legal driving vision requirement. But he has improved a lot from being almost blind. Previously, he had to use a magnifying glass to see close-up objects and had to rely largely on memory to navigate indoors and outdoors. Now he can perform all his daily tasks without any help.

The treatment, funded by Moorfields Eye Charity, has been used on 35 patients so far. The results of the first eight patients were recently published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, showing that seven out of the eight patients responded positively.

The researchers hope that over time they will be able to better understand who will benefit most from the treatment.