Category: News and Views
Optic neuritis cured with stem cells?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-stem-cells-for-eyes-20160201-story.html
Good for her.
Maybe they didn't have it right in the first place.
Medicine is somethimes a guessing game.
Sure would be great to get something like this. Maybe someday.
Good for her. Not very helpful for people with prosthesis.
No, but there are some research paths for people like us Lakeria. Some
sientists are trying to study animals who can regrow eyes, to figure out how
they do it. But its a very slow process. If only they could figure out nanobots,
then we could just get an eye transplant. Still, they're getting closer all the
time.
They've been saying they're getting closer for years. If anything becomes available for people with prosthetic eyes in my lifetime, I'll be shocked.
That's kinda what closer means Chelsea. Closer and close are not the same
thing. we've been getting closer to putting a man on Mars since the sixties and
we still haven't done it. There's a lot of complicated science that would go into
making a person with prostetics see again. Like, does our brain even have the
capacity to see again.
I'm not getting my hopes up for that Cody, but it doesn't hurt to dream..
I agree. I'd not hold my breath. There is so much removed from the body once you have false eyes.
In this lady's case, she was sighted before, so she had a really goode chance.
Nothing was altered.
I do wonder if she'll regain complete vision, or just what she's gained in this article?
From what I understand of the brain, if those of us who were born blind are ever able to see, it would be a struggle for the brain to learn to interpret images. Seeing light is one thing, but going through the process of trying to psychologically adjust to having sight seems to be more stress than it's worth. glad this woman was able to regain her sight.
I already have my own fears. I don't want my sight back, so the world looks even scarier. Really, I agree with the poster that said that with artificial eyes, it's more difficult. I don't recal seeing a thing, unless it was a dream that I could see. And mostly it looked like feeling it, so there's nothing to compare it to, for my brain. Also, with the kind of seizures I have, one kind is something to do with overstimulation. I can detect strobe lights, but right after, I have a seizure. It's mostly that what's left of my optic nerves feels it. If that's too much, I'll pass. I hope they can help those that have lost sight, to get their own sight back. I'm not against it. It just scares the daylights out of me, just thinking of everything being so new and strange. Like some Sci-Fi alternate universe.
God Bless!
Sarah.
P.S.: Sorry for the ramble.
I agree with Reyami and Sarah. I wouldn't want to have sight.
If I had the money, i'd do this in a heart beat.
Not because being blind is the worst thing ever, but because so many of the things i'd like to do in life require more sight than I currently have.
My condition is rather well suited to trying this treatment.
This wouldn't apply to my condition (ROP) but I'd have my sight back in an instant, if possible! I had some vision as a child, so it wouldn't be a new experience, but even if it was, I'd go for it if that were an option; it would be absolute heaven to see again! I'd happily ditch my cane forever. The only downside is that I then wouldn't be eligible to get a free, well-trained sweet labrador every ten years or so. *smile*
Agreed with James. I was into very visually dependent things pre-vision los. So this was a very exciting article to read and this is my actual eye condition. Will be interesting to see if this treatment becomes any more widely studied/trialed.
The whole idea that your brain wouldn't be able to handle it is not very
supported by science. yeah, you'd be overwhelmed for a while, and you'd have
to start from scratch more or less, but your brain is incredibly adaptable. You'd
be fine. It would just take some work. You wouldn't go insane or anything like
that.
I'd take sight in an instant even though I've never had any. One advantage out of the countless I can think of would be this: I would be able to learn more things because I learn best through experience. Right now, most people expect me to fully understand their descriptions of how to do everything and get everywhere through words alone. They seem to think I can use my imagination so well that words just communicate everything. I had an O&M teacher who was the worst at this. I'd be trying to learn routs by focusing on the things I could hear and smell and touch. Meanwhile, she'd be talking and chattering and describing every single detail of every solitary thing she could see in that neighborhood. She said she had to tell me all about the things I couldn't see. Her flood of words did nothing but overwhelm me to the point where I was too tired to learn anymore. Maybe if I could see, people would show me things and use fewer words where words don't do any good.
I’m not sure that I’d be the first on the table if the procedure became widely available, but I wouldn’t say I’d absolutely never do it either, especially if the procedure were to be nearly 100 percent foolproof and result in 20/20 vision. Sight is not something I naturally pine for, but objectively speaking it probably would make a lot of things easier. I dunno. Going through a slight metamorphosis of opinion, perhaps? I do have to admit that there are probably times when I’m more tired of the cane than I used to be. In any case, if the procedure were nearly foolproof and resulted in 2020 vision, you’d almost be compelled by societal pressure to take it. I’ll continue to remain aloof and take the matter under advisement though.
I'd go insane.
I'd be down at the Harley dealer before I had a license, and you name it. hahaha.
It take me a year to settle down again.
I remember what it is like, and well.
I agree, I'd not be one of the first to hop on the table, but if odds were good, I'd try it.
Before we all get all excited about this, we ought to read case studies of people who have regained their sight. for most who have been blind from birth, it has been distressing. many have just closed their eyes because they couldn't handle what they saw. I've read a couple books, crashing through by Michael may and the rosemary Mahoney one about for those who see reports from the world of the blind. These issues were discussed in detaail. my mobility instructor in high school worked with a guy who had gotten back his vision. my teacher told me what I previously mentioned too. After a certain age, the brain can't interpret what it sees. my daughter was born blind, and they thought as a tiny baby they could give her some vision. it was repeatedly stressed that after a certain age, her brain would stop processing. the optic center basically can't be trained. maybe things have changed, but that is what I vividly remember. I've been blind all my life, have had a wonderful time, and am happy with the status quo. glad it worked for this lady, and I wish her well.
Forereel, it would only take you a year to settle down? LOL I think it would take longer for me.
I'd probably go shopping for clothes and shoes first.
What does it say about both of us that neither would go ogle the opposite sex first thing?
Yeah. I honestly don’t know. It’s hard for me to get excited over this really. I’ve also been blind since birth except for a little residual vision, so I actually know colors. Trouble is that the vision I once had wasn’t really all that useful, and I think at times it actually caused me more problems than it benefited me. Truth to tell, when I lost what little I had when I was fourteen, it wasn’t all that much of an adjustment, which sorta says a lot about how little impact it must’ve had in my life. There were parts I missed for a while, but that while was a short one. Like, I used to really, really love fireworks displays for the color and lights. But, you know, of what practical use are fireworks displays when, even with the sight I did have, there was so much that wasn’t possible? Reading print? Never woulda happened even if I’d managed to retain that sight. Pictures didn’t register at all with me. If two people were standing next to one another right in front of me, I could never visually tell one person from another. I did use it to travel to some degree, but driving would always have been well out of the question. What I got out of the visual aspects of television when I was a kid was little more than a lot of pretty colors, but images never registered. When I became absolutely, 100 percent total, it removed a lot of the ambiguities. This was how life was gunna be from now on. It ended up not being a major tragedy for me. In fact, as tragedies go or went, comparatively speaking it doesn’t even hurt enough to tickle. It’s scary, but in December of 2018, it’ll have been forty years since I last visually saw anything, and I find I don’t really miss those days. I wonder if my reflections this morning were a momentary bout of pensiveness concerning the what-ifs in life. Yes, perhaps things might’ve been easier, but you’ve no guarantees in life in any case, blind or sighted. Sitting here now, I foresee a lot more work than I’m really ready to do were it even remotely possible for me to get 20/20. My life right nnow is actually really, really good. It’s stable. It’s orderly. These days I gravitate toward stability and order. I don’t want any major life-changing events as I figure I’ve already had enough of those over the past ten years. And being struck sighted would certainly be in all likelihood the mmost singularly significant event in this life thus far. Not that I’d begrudge anyone else here who wanted it, especially those of you who once had full sight. You know what you’re missing by not having it. Me, I’m just inclined to take the easy way out for the present until I have to make changes. Till then, if I don’t have to, I’d just as soon not.
Well, I'm not excited about it-it is a pretty far stretch for it to reach me and I too would not want to be the experimental patients. I'll wiat til it's got a high percentage of success.
And Johndy I think it would be a huge nauseating headache inducing trauma for me even though I've had 20/20 but it has been ten years since I had functional vision.
Mind you with the right stats, I'd go for all the nauseating headache inducing trauma if it were available right now with low risk and high success. But I've accepted things as they are and don't long for what I can't have.
Well VH, sho ya right.
First thing that came to my mind was a beautiful Harley.
The opposite sex, well, I’ve already seen lots of, um, girls.
Plus, when a man’s got a Harley between his legs!
Nuf said.
Laughing.
Hmm. I guess there is that whole vibration thing goin' on, eh?
No. Harley's have great soft leather seats.
It is the visual appeal for the other sex.
Macho.
But, a man can ride for miles. See the mountains, beautiful, see the desert, beautiful, see the plains.
A man can feel the wind on his face.
Ah!
Laughing.
Ah! My apologies.
Maybe get a ride on a Harley. You might be surprised how your driver might react to you.
Grin.
Guess it doesn't need to be a Harley, any will do this for you.
Hmmm. Something to contemplate.
I wouldn't have to put my education on hold since I just finished a degree. I'm blind since birth. I wouldn't expect perfection, but I would expect to learn something I hadn't known before. I would expect at least a few new abilities even if they didn't include things like driving. I'd go for it, assuming a significant chance of success.