Lens Regeneration After Cataract Surgery Might Be Possible

Cataract surgery has advanced tremendously over the past two decades. The introduction of medical grade lasers into this procedure took it from a major operating room ordeal to an outpatient undertaking that involves no overnight hospital stay. What’s more, most patients find they are back at their normal routines seeing better than they have in years within a few days.

The current procedure to correct cataracts involves using a laser to gently remove the eye’s damaged natural lens. This lens is then replaced with a man-made design. While also highly advanced, man-made lenses are not always perfect. Prescriptions, for example, can be off slightly and other issues may arise with the synthetic products.

But, what if people were able to regenerate their own natural lenses? Could that advance cataract surgery even further?

Those are precisely the kinds of questions a group of researchers set out to answer recently. They did, as it turns out, manage to successfully help infants with damaged lenses regenerate natural tissue after undergoing cataract surgery.

The procedure doctors used to achieve the desired results was designed to maintain lens capsule integrity while preserving epithelial stem cells. The technique was first used on macaques and rabbits before being tested on a group of babies up to the age of one. Patients in the study who underwent the new procedure had very promising results. Researchers also noted much lower rates of complications associated with the new procedure, which was less invasive overall than the standard procedure performed.

Whether the new procedure will hold up over time remains to be seen. It also remains unclear if the results would hold as promising with older patients who are likely to face age-related issues in regard to regeneration potential.

People who suffer from the blurry, cloudy vision of cataracts are urged to seek out professional eye care advice. Today’s approved procedure has a strong track record of success and has helped thousands of people improve and safeguard their vision.

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