Submitted by administrator on
In the far east scientists have found a way to reverse age-related far-sightedness.
A piece of corneal tissue or lenticule removed surgically to rid people in their 20s of short-sightedness can be re-implanted into the eye 20 to 30 years later to stop presbyopia or far-sightedness.So far a $25-million grant has been secured to carry out the study, along with four other researches on the eye, over the next five years.
The new funding and grants were announced at a media conference for the 17th meeting of Singapore's Biomedical Sciences International Advisory Council on Friday.
The research will look into private banking where patients will store their own lenticules for use later as well as public banking where donations of tissues can be deposited for patients in need. Storage viability has already been investigated via state blood banks.Apart from the challenge of re-implanting the lenticules to correct presbyopia, the other challenge for the team is storing the lenticules "at the correct angle, especially for patients who have astigmatism".
Astigmatism results in an irregular curve of the cornea.
Design of the cases is currently being looked into as the numbers in question total about one hundred thousand. There are currently, between 200 and 300 lenticules collected already for experiments. The clinical trials will start next year.