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Doctors have successfully developed a groundbreaking treatment that restores vision and prevents blindness in individuals suffering from a rare and severe eye condition called hypotony. This disorder causes dangerously low pressure within the eyeball, resulting in the eye collapsing inward. Moorfields Eye Hospital in London has established the world’s first specialized clinic for hypotony, where a pilot study revealed that seven out of eight patients responded positively to an innovative therapy.
One of the first patients to benefit from this treatment is Nicki Guy, 47, who shared her experience exclusively with the BBC. She described the effects as “life-changing” and expressed immense gratitude for regaining her sight, saying, “It’s given me everything back. I can see my child grow up.” Previously struggling with severely limited vision, including using a magnifying glass for close tasks and navigating mostly by memory, Nicki can now read nearly all the letters on an eye chart. Though she falls just short of the legal standard for driving, she remains optimistic, stating, “If my vision stays like this for the rest of my life it would be absolutely brilliant.”
Hypotony occurs when the natural fluid inside the eye is insufficiently produced, which may result from trauma, inflammation, surgery side effects, or certain medications. Prior treatments, such as steroids and silicone oil injections, failed to provide lasting benefits due to toxicity or poor visual clarity. Recognizing these limitations, the Moorfields team introduced a different solution using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), a transparent, water-based gel already employed in some eye surgeries. Unlike previous methods, this gel is repeatedly injected into the eye’s main chamber as part of a novel therapeutic regimen.
Nicki’s struggle began in 2017 with her right eye, which had visibly collapsed, described by her as “crumpled like a paper bag.” Initial treatments with silicone oil offered minimal help. When her left eye began deteriorating years later, she and her doctor, Mr Harry Petrushkin, determined to try a new approach involving the transparent gel. “The idea that we might be causing harm… was nerve-wracking,” Petrushkin admitted, acknowledging the risks for a patient relying on one functioning eye. However, the treatment yielded remarkable results. “Somebody, who by all rights should have lost her vision in both eyes… is now living normally. That’s completely remarkable,” he said. So far, 35 patients have been treated with this method, which involves injecting the gel every three to four weeks over about ten months. The outcomes for the initial eight patients have been published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. Researchers hope to refine patient selection and enhance the therapy’s effectiveness as this promising story continues
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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