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A groundbreaking procedure is finally causing quite a stir in the medical community as it promises to eliminate the effects of cataracts, which is one of the major culprits that causes blindness worldwide.
Dubbed as one of today’s finest achievements in reconstructive and regenerative medicine, this revolutionary procedure employs the use of stem cells in the eye to develop a new one.
The procedure was conducted on children suffering from cataract- the clouding of the eye’s lens – and became a resounding success.
This medical technique was developed by a combined team of specialists from the Sun Yat Sen University and the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Kang Zhang, one of the researchers, said that the process removes the cloudy cataract from the lens through a small incision, leaving the lens capsule intact.
The area from which the cataract was extracted is then lined with epithelial stem cells from the lens which then normally repairs the damage and within the next eight months, the regenerated lens returns back to its original size and functions properly.
Initial tests of this procedure was initially done on rabbits and monkeys which had a high rate of success, followed by human clinical trials on 12 children that were affected by the condition.
Dr. Zhang, however, said that they still need to conduct larger trials before it becomes a standard treatment process for cataracts.
The World Health Organization reports that cataract is the primary cause of no less than 51% of all blindness cases worldwide and is the leading cause of blindness worldwide.
Among the proven causes of cataract is smoking and too much exposure to harmful ultraviolet light.
Diabetes mellitus and relatively high levels of body mass index and glycemic index also increase the risk of people to go blind.
The World Health Report also indicated that due to barriers affecting intervention to prevent cataract from causing further damage , there is an increase of approximately 1 million people who gets affected with cataract.
Among the reasons stated by the report are due to the following;
- Patients fear the prospect of being operated on, believing they could lose sight of their eyes permanently.
- The cost of having a standard cataract procedure is too steep for many people, especially those from developing countries.
- The reduced demand due to poor visual results
- The apparent lack of eye surgeons in Africa.
But with this new breakthrough in regenerative medicine, it shows that this new operation regenerates eye’s lens without the painful side effects .
The post Stem Cell Method Of Treatment For Cataracts A Success appeared first on NUTRITION CLUB CANADA.
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