Stem cells from one eye show promise in healing injuries in the other
Associated PressPhil Durst recalled clawing at his face after a chemical from a commercial dishwashing machine squirted into his eyes, causing “the most indescribable pain I’ve ever felt — ever, ever, ever.” His left eye bore the brunt of the 2017 work accident, which stole his vision, left him unable to tolerate light and triggered four to five cluster headaches a day. The 51-year-old from Homewood, Alabama, was one of four patients to get stem cell transplants as part of the first U.S. study to test the technique, which could someday help thousands. The procedure is designed to treat “limbal stem cell deficiency,” a corneal disorder that can occur after chemical burns and other eye injuries. Dr. Ula Jurkunas, an ophthalmologist at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston who was the principal investigator for the study, said the experimental technique involves taking a small biopsy of stem cells from the healthy eye, then expanding and growing them on a graft in a lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
History of this topic
World's first stem cell treatment restores vision, offers new hope to the blind
India Today
Surgeons have performed the world’s first eye transplant
Associated Press
Growing limbal stem cells without using a human scaffold
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