7 ms·

Lens of human eye can be fully regenerated, at least in newborns

98 points by krzysiek 10y ago

ars 10y ago
I feel bad for whichever newborn needed such surgery :(
- maxerickson 10y ago
  It's rare but not all that rare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_cataract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_cataract
toomuchtodo 10y ago
UCSD press release: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/stem_cells_regenerate_human_lens_after_cataract_surgery_restoring_vision http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/stem_cells_regenerate_... Nature abstract: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7594/full/nature17181.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7594/full/nature1... Obligatory Nature paper DOI ident for sci-hub lookup: doi:10.1038/nature17181
- krzysiek 10y ago
  Exactly. Here are the most important points from the full Nature paper: http://evidenceba.se/sources/42-lens-regeneration-using-endogenous-stem-cells-with-gain-of-visual-function http://evidenceba.se/sources/42-lens-regeneration-using-endo...
arithma 10y ago
My son did the older surgery when he was a newborn. I just wish we had to do this surgery now instead (or if we can benefit in anyway from this new technique.) Note: did the surgery at "Associated Retinal Consultants." I can't read this without getting too emotional, and am not sure if this is considered a totally new thing or if we just missed out on this possibility then.
- krzysiek 10y ago
  This study was published 2 months ago. I was doing the research because my mom had a cataract surgery, and now she got diagnosed with posterior capsule opacification. I haven't found anything else. It seems like that's a very new thing.
  - ajosh 10y ago
    Having the rear capsule become cloudy is pretty normal following cataract surgery. There is a YAG laser procedure called YAG capsulotomy where they put a hole in the area that is clouded up. The prosthetic lense stays in place and the cloudiness is gone. You can expect a floater that shifts around following the surgery. I got cataract surgery in one eye a few years ago. I am much younger than the average patient. It's not as good as what you have naturally when you are young but it sure beats what you have with a cataract. In my case, the floater did become mostly unnoticeable within a year. It didn't really impede my daily life before that.
    - krzysiek 10y ago
      Thanks for sharing your experience. I found the info about YAG laser, and also that's the recommendation that my mom got, but it's great to read about an optimistic outcome. It seems to me that for now YAG is the best option.
- dmpayton 10y ago
  As a parent, I get the emotional reaction. You want to provide the absolute best for your child, and this feels like a total missed opportunity. But as someone who had cataract surgery as a newborn, please don't fret about it too much. I don't know how old your son is or when his surgery was, but bilateral aphakia is something that has become more of an inconvenience than anything else. It certainly shouldn't limit his options in life. (Unless his heart is set on joining the military, like I was. But, as they say, I really dodged a bullet there.)
roberthahn 10y ago
I had to have my lenses removed from both eyes when I was a child (in the 70s). The problem in my case was that they were dislocated. Since the surgery, I wore very thick glasses to correct it. I switched to contacts in the early 80s (contact lens tech was barely viable by then) augmented with reading glasses. Today I wear contacts to get to 20/20 or 20/30, and reading glasses for computer work or reading. My correction is around +8.25 or so for each eye. This is very exciting news and I hope kids don't have to go through the pain of wearing super thick glasses growing up.
- knodi123 10y ago
  They won't - high index materials have made coke bottle lenses a thing of the past.
  - ScottBurson 10y ago
    At a price, though: high-index plastic has much higher dispersion than the lower-index materials. This causes a greater "prism effect" near the edges of the lens, which interacts very badly with the new RGB-backlight monitors [0]. [0] http://scottlburson2.blogspot.com/2016/01/lcd-backlights-and-eyeglass-lenses.html http://scottlburson2.blogspot.com/2016/01/lcd-backlights-and...
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - jtchang 10y ago
      Maybe that is why I see yellow all the time on the edges.
    - roberthahn 10y ago
      Yeah, I have a pair of those for when I'm not wearing contacts and the chromatic aberration drives me nuts.
    - NickNameNick 10y ago
      I had a bit of that when I got my next-most-recent pair of glasses. It took less than a week before I stopped noticing it entirely. I don't think my current pair have the problem, but I'm not sure I could tell any more.
sandworm101 10y ago
As I understand the matter, these sorts of interventions have/should be done as soon as possible after birth. The developing brain needs the visual feedback to develop vision properly. So it is good news to see them focusing on younger patients.
Grishnakh 10y ago
It'll be great if they can do this for older people eventually, so we don't need to wear reading glasses.
PostThisTooFast 10y ago
Don't use corticosteroids, folks. They are known to cause cataracts, but they can also destroy your eyes by causing central serous retinopathy. This means don't use allergy sprays. It's not worth ruining your vision. Don't get steroid shots for orthopedic pain; they don't work in the long term, and can even cause more harm. There's a CSR Yahoo group, and every week there's another person joining and saying, "I got a Prednisone shot and now there's a giant brown circle in the middle of my vision." The damage ranges from "minor" to people who are essentially blind; and older literature calls it ideopathic, but the role of corticosteroids is an accepted fact among retinal specialists. And yet there are NO WARNINGS on packages about it. The FDA at work.
krazydad 10y ago
A good, another use for newborns!
nfriedly 10y ago
This is absolutely possible. I know a woman who's entire eye was removed when she was a child, and it grew back completely about 30 years later. No one quite understands why (or why it took 30 years), but the human body is full of surprises.
- damienkatz 10y ago
  You got to provide more info than that! Was it suddenly regrown? Or grew in spurts? Slow and steady? At what point did they decide it was regrown? How well does it work? Or is this like some joke I would tell my kids how my leg was chopped off as a child but later grew back?
  - akinity 10y ago
    Stranger things have happened. My curiosity is still piqued though.
  - nfriedly 10y ago
    I should track her down again because its been a few years. But from what I recall, it was slow and steady over maybe 6-8 months. When we met last, it wasn't quite 100% done: the eye was mostly there but it looked cloudy and she was keeping gause over it, so I don't think it "worked" all that well yet. But it did move in sync with the other eye.
ck2 10y ago
Maybe it is based on stem cell availability? Younger you are, more you have? Guess they would have figured that out though.
hanniabu 10y ago
So since eyes don't grow in size from birth, could everyone have their lens removed early on to be saved as a potential replacement for later on in life? Would there be any benefit to doing this since there's already operations such as lasyk?
- ars 10y ago
  > So since eyes don't grow in size from birth That isn't true.

98 points by krzysiek 10y ago

ars 10y ago

I feel bad for whichever newborn needed such surgery :(

maxerickson 10y ago
It's rare but not all that rare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_cataract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_cataract

toomuchtodo 10y ago

UCSD press release: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/stem_cells_regenerate_human_lens_after_cataract_surgery_restoring_vision http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/stem_cells_regenerate_... Nature abstract: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7594/full/nature17181.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7594/full/nature1... Obligatory Nature paper DOI ident for sci-hub lookup: doi:10.1038/nature17181

krzysiek 10y ago
Exactly. Here are the most important points from the full Nature paper: http://evidenceba.se/sources/42-lens-regeneration-using-endogenous-stem-cells-with-gain-of-visual-function http://evidenceba.se/sources/42-lens-regeneration-using-endo...

arithma 10y ago

My son did the older surgery when he was a newborn. I just wish we had to do this surgery now instead (or if we can benefit in anyway from this new technique.) Note: did the surgery at "Associated Retinal Consultants." I can't read this without getting too emotional, and am not sure if this is considered a totally new thing or if we just missed out on this possibility then.

krzysiek 10y ago
This study was published 2 months ago. I was doing the research because my mom had a cataract surgery, and now she got diagnosed with posterior capsule opacification. I haven't found anything else. It seems like that's a very new thing.
- ajosh 10y ago
  Having the rear capsule become cloudy is pretty normal following cataract surgery. There is a YAG laser procedure called YAG capsulotomy where they put a hole in the area that is clouded up. The prosthetic lense stays in place and the cloudiness is gone. You can expect a floater that shifts around following the surgery. I got cataract surgery in one eye a few years ago. I am much younger than the average patient. It's not as good as what you have naturally when you are young but it sure beats what you have with a cataract. In my case, the floater did become mostly unnoticeable within a year. It didn't really impede my daily life before that.
  - krzysiek 10y ago
    Thanks for sharing your experience. I found the info about YAG laser, and also that's the recommendation that my mom got, but it's great to read about an optimistic outcome. It seems to me that for now YAG is the best option.
dmpayton 10y ago
As a parent, I get the emotional reaction. You want to provide the absolute best for your child, and this feels like a total missed opportunity. But as someone who had cataract surgery as a newborn, please don't fret about it too much. I don't know how old your son is or when his surgery was, but bilateral aphakia is something that has become more of an inconvenience than anything else. It certainly shouldn't limit his options in life. (Unless his heart is set on joining the military, like I was. But, as they say, I really dodged a bullet there.)

roberthahn 10y ago

I had to have my lenses removed from both eyes when I was a child (in the 70s). The problem in my case was that they were dislocated. Since the surgery, I wore very thick glasses to correct it. I switched to contacts in the early 80s (contact lens tech was barely viable by then) augmented with reading glasses. Today I wear contacts to get to 20/20 or 20/30, and reading glasses for computer work or reading. My correction is around +8.25 or so for each eye. This is very exciting news and I hope kids don't have to go through the pain of wearing super thick glasses growing up.

knodi123 10y ago
They won't - high index materials have made coke bottle lenses a thing of the past.
- ScottBurson 10y ago
  At a price, though: high-index plastic has much higher dispersion than the lower-index materials. This causes a greater "prism effect" near the edges of the lens, which interacts very badly with the new RGB-backlight monitors [0]. [0] http://scottlburson2.blogspot.com/2016/01/lcd-backlights-and-eyeglass-lenses.html http://scottlburson2.blogspot.com/2016/01/lcd-backlights-and...
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - jtchang 10y ago
    Maybe that is why I see yellow all the time on the edges.
  - roberthahn 10y ago
    Yeah, I have a pair of those for when I'm not wearing contacts and the chromatic aberration drives me nuts.
  - NickNameNick 10y ago
    I had a bit of that when I got my next-most-recent pair of glasses. It took less than a week before I stopped noticing it entirely. I don't think my current pair have the problem, but I'm not sure I could tell any more.

sandworm101 10y ago

As I understand the matter, these sorts of interventions have/should be done as soon as possible after birth. The developing brain needs the visual feedback to develop vision properly. So it is good news to see them focusing on younger patients.

Grishnakh 10y ago

It'll be great if they can do this for older people eventually, so we don't need to wear reading glasses.

PostThisTooFast 10y ago

Don't use corticosteroids, folks. They are known to cause cataracts, but they can also destroy your eyes by causing central serous retinopathy. This means don't use allergy sprays. It's not worth ruining your vision. Don't get steroid shots for orthopedic pain; they don't work in the long term, and can even cause more harm. There's a CSR Yahoo group, and every week there's another person joining and saying, "I got a Prednisone shot and now there's a giant brown circle in the middle of my vision." The damage ranges from "minor" to people who are essentially blind; and older literature calls it ideopathic, but the role of corticosteroids is an accepted fact among retinal specialists. And yet there are NO WARNINGS on packages about it. The FDA at work.

krazydad 10y ago

A good, another use for newborns!

nfriedly 10y ago

This is absolutely possible. I know a woman who's entire eye was removed when she was a child, and it grew back completely about 30 years later. No one quite understands why (or why it took 30 years), but the human body is full of surprises.

damienkatz 10y ago
You got to provide more info than that! Was it suddenly regrown? Or grew in spurts? Slow and steady? At what point did they decide it was regrown? How well does it work? Or is this like some joke I would tell my kids how my leg was chopped off as a child but later grew back?
- akinity 10y ago
  Stranger things have happened. My curiosity is still piqued though.
- nfriedly 10y ago
  I should track her down again because its been a few years. But from what I recall, it was slow and steady over maybe 6-8 months. When we met last, it wasn't quite 100% done: the eye was mostly there but it looked cloudy and she was keeping gause over it, so I don't think it "worked" all that well yet. But it did move in sync with the other eye.

ck2 10y ago

Maybe it is based on stem cell availability? Younger you are, more you have? Guess they would have figured that out though.

hanniabu 10y ago

So since eyes don't grow in size from birth, could everyone have their lens removed early on to be saved as a potential replacement for later on in life? Would there be any benefit to doing this since there's already operations such as lasyk?

ars 10y ago
> So since eyes don't grow in size from birth That isn't true.