An exceptional surgery performed at the Molinette hospital in Turin, Italy, has partially restored sight to an 83-year-old patient who was suffering from total blindness due to two different diseases. This world's first surgery of its kind allowed one sighted eye to be reconstructed from two blind eyes.
The doctors performed a corneal autotransplant, enlarged to include the sclera and conjunctiva. This innovative technique allowed the patient to partially recover his sight, using tissue from the other blind eye.
The surgery was performed by Professor Michele Reibaldi, director of the University Eye Clinic Molinette, and Professor Vincenzo Sarnicola, among the world's leading experts in corneal surgery.
The doctors performed a corneal autotransplant, enlarged to include the sclera and conjunctiva. This innovative technique allowed the patient to partially recover his sight, using tissue from the other blind eye.
The surgery was performed by Professor Michele Reibaldi, director of the University Eye Clinic Molinette, and Professor Vincenzo Sarnicola, among the world's leading experts in corneal surgery. Thanks to their expertise, the patient was able to recover vision in one eye through the other eye.
After the surgery, the patient told the press, "When I woke up and started to see the outlines of my fingers and hand, it was like being born again." Thanks to the groundbreaking operation, the man was able to see again by taking advantage of the good ocular surface of his functionally unrecoverable left eye. (Pictured: From left: Enrica Sarnicola, Enza Suozzo, Vincenzo Sarnicola and Michele Reibaldi)
Despite the exceptional nature of the surgery, doctors believe it may be replicable in other cases under the same conditions as the first patient operated on. The 83-year-old had lost vision in his left eye due to irreversible retinal blindness and had become blind in his right eye for the past 10 years due to a rare condition.
An exceptional surgery performed at the Molinette hospital in Turin, Italy, has partially restored sight to an 83-year-old patient who was suffering from total blindness due to two different diseases. This world's first surgery of its kind allowed one sighted eye to be reconstructed from two blind eyes.