Miracle jab restores woman's eyesight in vision treatment breakthrough

A surgical gel (HPMC) was injected into a woman's eye at Moorfields Eye Hospital and, after fortnightly treatments over a year, she regained useful vision in the treated eye; she had lost sight because of hypotony and had previously been unable to drive.

A 47-year-old patient has regained useful vision in one eye after receiving injections of a clear surgical gel at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. She had developed ocular hypotony, a condition of low eye pressure that reduced her sight and led her to stop driving. The treatment used hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), a gel commonly used in eye surgery, instead of silicone oil. She was one of eight patients given injections every two weeks for a year as part of the project. Key facts: - The patient, Nicki Guy, developed eye problems after being diagnosed with chronic anterior uveitis following the birth of her son. - Hypotony had caused structural collapse in the affected eye and substantial loss of vision before treatment. - Moorfields clinicians used HPMC injections for eight patients, administered every two weeks for a year. - HPMC is commonly used in eye surgery to maintain shape and protect the surface and was chosen as an alternative to silicone oil, which clinicians said can cause toxicity. - Vision in the patient's left eye improved after treatment; she lost sight in the right eye earlier following a retinal detachment. Summary: The reported outcome is that the treated eye regained useful vision, enabling the patient to resume some activities she had paused because of vision loss. Moorfields has reported rolling the approach out to other clinic patients with reported success. Undetermined at this time are longer-term durability and wider clinical evaluation of the treatment.