I found a very important news, because it deals with a serious problem, that happens to many people worldwide. The news says: "They design lenses that reduce up to 40% blindness from macular degeneration".
A research team, from the University of Murcia, has created some intraocular lenses, capable of decreasing progressive and irreversible loss of vision, due to macular degeneration, associated with age (DME).
The lenses made of space technology in the Laboratory of Optics of the University of Murcia
To get its result, whose study has been published, in the journal Biomedical Optical Express, the Optical Laboratory of the University of Murcia (LOUM), led by the Professor, Pablo Artal, has used typical technology of space telescopes.
The Professor, Pablo Artal
Lenses, named iolAMD, are made of a flexible material is injected, into the eye, through a very small incision, that requires no sutures. This greatly reduces the risk of infection and postoperative complications, as Artal has explained in a note.
Thus, the patient's vision is moved, towards the peripheral area of the eye, to prevent the central area damaged. Thus, the patient controls his vision, without turning his head sharply, whenever he focuses on an object and also the advanced optical design solves serious problems, adapting to the peculiarities, possessed by each eye.
The Professor Artal, who has worked in collaboration with Dr. Qureshi, director and founder of the famous London Eye Hospital (UK), has revealed that they were inspired, by the first telescope built by Galileo Galilei, in 1609, to show that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
"It is a refracting telescope, with one positive lens and another negative one. From there, we solved the problems, that had other optical methods failed, to treat DME, that also reproduce the Galileo's telescope", clarified and has topped that another possible innovations of these minitelescopes is the application of modified opticals.
At present, they are conducted clinical trials, in over 200 patients of UK, Germany and Italy.
Recipients, of these innovative minitelescopes, have experienced an improvement, in vision, between 20% and 40%, according to preliminary data, that the London Eye Hospital manages.
The Professor of Optics, at the UMU, remarks that "it is not a cure, but returning the percentage of sight, to a person with DME, can mean give it the chance to drive or read". However, the final results, of these trials, will be validated, shortly, with its publication, in reputable scientific journals.
The Macular degeneration, associated to age, is the leading cause of blindness, in people over 55 years, in western countries, with more than 25 million patients worldwide.
The patient loses the central vision, when damaging blood vessels, that supply the macula, an area of the retina, that is responsible for our view is sharper and can appreciate the details.
DME patients, with acute phase, were aimed to blindness, in the absence of pharmacological or surgical effective and safe treatment.
Let´s hope that these researchers can design some lenses, to correct this blindness, to 100%.
Until my next post, kind regards,
Luis.
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