– The perspective is that now people who are sad about having lost their last vision can get some form of compensation that allows them to navigate and work with a gross vision in a way that they are not dependent on touch, sound or other forms of recognition of the outside world, he says.
The blind man who has been through the treatment has an eye condition that has largely been impossible to deal with so far.
But some “cunning researchers” may have found a solution. Michael Larsen explains that they have been inside the eye and reprogrammed some cells in the retina.
The technique goes in and changes cells so that they produce more light-sensitive proteins. This is done by injecting a modified and harmless form of virus into the eye.
Together with special glasses, it enabled the patient to, among other things, find and touch a notebook on a table in front of him 92 percent of the time.
Without the glasses, he was unable to perform any visual tasks.
According to Michael Larsen, it is a breakthrough at the experimental level. But it is real people who have to tell if it can really be used.
– It must become clear when this is done on a larger scale whether such a completely blind person, who is accustomed to living with his disability, gets something out of that practice. Only the blind patient can decide.
– If we look at what skilled blind people can do with guide dogs and a cane and electronic aids, then it is quite impressive. And many of them can even function in a job and be of benefit to others and have a good quality of life.
– It is something they have achieved because they have got used to being blind and been through a training, he says.
Therefore, the treatment must be of a certain quality if it is to give them something extra, the assessment reads.
The patient’s disorder in the trial belongs to a group of diseases called retinitis pigmentosa, which affects the retina of the eye.
According to the Danish Society for the Blind, there are approximately 50 to 100 new cases of retinitis pigmentosa per year in Denmark. Over one million people worldwide are affected by a disease belonging to the group.
Source: The Nordic Page