Cure For Blindness: Emerging Treatments Offer New Hope for Blindness and Vision Loss

According to the Cure Blindness Project an estimated 43 million people in the world are blind. Patients affected with vision loss and blindness may wonder: can blindness be cured?

While there is no cure for blindness, certain treatments can help restore some vision for patients, depending on the cause and course of the patient’s vision loss. Furthermore, advancing technology may offer hope for patients suffering from vision loss who hope to restore sight in the future.

Blindness is the inability to see, or having extremely impaired vision, in one or both eyes. In serious cases, patients are not able to detect light in their eyes.

In most situations the vision loss is so severe that it cannot be easily corrected with glasses, contacts, or refractive surgeries like LASIK.

Not all forms of blindness mean a total loss of vision. There are various types of vision loss that can be classified as “blindness.”

Partial blindness: Also called “low vision.” In this form of blindness patients have severe visual impairment but still retain some vision.

Complete blindness: The most severe form of blindness where a patient is unable to see or detect any light.

Congenital blindness: A form of poor vision which patients are born with. Causes for congenital blindness include hereditary eye, retinal conditions, and non-inherited birth defects.

Legal blindness: Heavily impaired vision where a patient’s central vision is 20/200 in their dominant eye even when corrected with glasses or contact lenses.

Additionally, patients may be considered legally blind if their field of vision or peripheral vision is severely reduced to less than 20 degrees.

Nutritional blindness: A specific type of vision loss associated with vitamin A deficiency. In this condition, patients may have difficulty seeing at night or in dim light due to retinal cells not functioning as well.

There is no single cause of blindness. Vision loss and blindness may be the result of a range of factors including injury, infection, and various medical conditions.

Eye injury and trauma is one of the principal causes of blindness and vision loss. Eye injuries may be the result of chemical burns, industrial accidents, blows and trauma, and sports related injuries.

To prevent serious vision loss, patients are encouraged to seek immediate medical attention following any eye injury to prevent avoidable blindness.

A variety of infections can lead to vision loss and blindness. For instance, Trachoma (a contagious bacterial infection of the eye) is currently the leading type of preventable blindness in the world.

Other infections that can cause blindness and vision loss include:

• Uveitis

• Endophthalmitis

• Rubella

• Shingles

• Syphilis

Certain non-infectious diseases and medical conditions can cause vision loss and blindness.

Age-related macular degeneration. Macular degeneration develops when cells in the macula (part of the retina that control central vision) deteriorate. As the macula deteriorates basic tasks like reading and facial recognition become more difficult. This is the most common form of vision loss for older Americans.

Cataracts. Cataracts are the clouding of the eye's natural lens. As the clouding continues patients may experience vision loss or blindness unless they receive surgical care.

Diabetic retinopathy. A diabetes-related eye condition which damages blood vessels in the eye and can cause vision loss. This loss of vision may happen slowly so patients are encouraged to seek immediate treatment if they receive a diagnosis.

Glaucoma. A condition which damages the optic nerve in the eye. Vision loss will typically begin in the periphery but can lead to blindness if left untreated.

There is currently no cure for blindness. However, there are forms of treatment and preventions that patients can use to attempt to restore vision and prevent further damage to their eyes. The type of blindness treatment a patient seeks will depend on the cause and course of their blindness.

Patients suffering from infectious causes of blindness may be prescribed certain anti-infective medications to treat their condition and prevent further vision loss.

For instance, patients suffering from Trachoma may be prescribed treatments such as azithromycin and tetracycline to treat the condition.

For certain causes of blindness patients may elect to have a surgery to prevent further vision loss. For example, cataract patients may choose to have cataract surgery to treat their condition and prevent blindness. Or if a patient has a retinal detachment, they may choose to have a retinal surgery.

This is typically offered to patients with nutritional blindness. The eye doctor may recommend that patients take vitamin A, B, or D supplements to treat vision loss.

While there is no cure for blindness, patients can do a number of things to reduce their risk of blindness and vision loss.

Regular eye exams: Regular exams will allow eye doctors to diagnose and treat conditions that lead to vision loss quickly before vision loss becomes severe.

Maintaining blood sugar: Diabetes is a leading cause of vision loss so patients should take measures to maintain their blood sugar.

Protective eyewear: To prevent blindness and vision loss caused by eye injuries, patients should wear recommended eyewear when they are participating in sports or other activities.

Diet & exercise: Patients can protect their vision with a well-rounded and vitamin-rich diet and by getting enough exercise.

Researchers are currently working on several developments which they hope may turn into a cure for blindness.

While these developments are exciting, patients should note that most are still in the experimental phase and may not be available to the public until further clinical trials.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), announced a program intended to transplant whole human eyes to restore vision for the blind and visually impaired.

The program hopes to transplant whole eyes and reconnect the nerves, muscles, and blood vessels to the patient's brain, allowing them to see properly. The project will attempt to leverage emerging microsurgical techniques, along with cell-based therapies, to preserve or regrow nerves from the eye to the brain.

Though the procedure is still in the experimental phase, the end goal is to find regenerative solutions that both prevent blindness and provide a crucial step towards whole eye transplants which may restore vision.

A team of Stanford researchers have begun work on a treatment for blindness called Optogenetics. The technique uses light to control neurons in the brain. Depending on the type of light and the gene used, the light can either activate or silence certain neurons.

Researchers believe by controlling specific neurons, they can better understand how different parts of the brain work. The end goal is to use optogenetics to explore ways to treat brain disorders like Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and other conditions.

Experts believe optogenetics has the potential to treat certain types of blindness. In particular those caused by damage to photoreceptors (light-sensitive cells in the retina). In common causes of blindness such as macular degeneration, the photoreceptor cells in the retina are damaged while other retinal cells, like retinal ganglion cells, remain intact.

Optogenetics may have the ability to modify the surviving genes, allowing them to detect light and send signals to the brain.

Many patients who suffer from blindness still have ganglion cells that remain intact despite damages to their photoreceptors. Photoswitch attempts to take these dormant ganglion cells and inject them with photoswitch molecules.

These molecules change shape in response to light. The goal is to give the ganglion cells the ability to sense light on their own, making them self-sufficient and able to produce vision. The procedure is currently being tested in animals, and has the potential to be used on humans if results come back positive.

This type of therapy is for patients with genetic forms of blindness. The goal is to target the underlying genetic causes of certain eye diseases, and repair or replace faulty genes responsible for vision loss.

In 2017, the FDA approved Luxturna, the first gene therapy aimed at retinal disease. The therapy specifically targets leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and retinitis pigmentosa caused by mutations in the RPE65 gene.

Some patients who received the treatment reported improved light sensitivity and navigational ability, leaving room for optimism.