A remarkable ground-breaking procedure that involves using the patients own stem cells has recently proved successful in restoring the sight of people blinded by caustic chemicals. This approach involves taking stem cells from the patient’s healthy eye, growing them in a lab and transplanting them to the patient’s burned eye. Specifically stem cells are taken from the limbus of the healthy eye, the rim around the cornea. Stem cells in the limbus produce new cells to replace dead corneal cells. In this case, they are used to replace damaged tissue in the burned eye. Stem-cell transplants offer hope to the thousands of people who suffer chemical burns to their eyes from caustic chemicals at work and at home each year.
Although numerous impediments remain, the use of stem cells is promising and may epitomize the future for replacement and regeneration of some ocular damage. The stem cell procedure mentioned above will not help people with damage to their optic nerves or those who have macular degeneration.
