Stem-Cell-Coated Contact Lenses Are Curing the Blind

• In Australia, scientists have discovered an extremely efficient way to literally cure blindness caused by damage to the cornea.

• By taking stem cell's from the patient's good eye or a different part of their eye and then cultivating them on contact lenses, the stem cells would bond to the patients' damaged eyes very quickly, in less than two weeks.

• Although it is mostly limited to curing corneal damage in patients with only one bad eye, a defect affecting both eyes called aniridia was treated successfully.

• The best parts about this method are the cost, which is very low, meaning poorer people will have access to this brilliant technology, and its potential for use on other organs like the skin, which is similar to the cornea in many ways.

I found this article to be appealing partially because I thought the aforementioned feat was utterly impossible and partially because I have a strange paranoia that the high levels of chlorine in the pool will react with my already bad eyesight and severely damage my eyes. Now, the greatest achievement of this technology would be to be able to cure those who are blind from birth, or even those who are totally colorblind. Colors are something that most people take for granted, but I imagine that if I had never before in my life seen a color, and then all of a sudden gained sight through an inexpensive and simple operation, that result would be quite shocking. It would be as though someone who could see discovered a new color and just went mad trying to describe it.

Citation

"Stem-Cell-Coated Contact Lenses Are Curing the Blind | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .