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Replies to "Hello @bharathi, Welcome to Mayo Connect! Your friend is so fortunate to have you! This problem..."
Hi @bharathi, I'm sorry to hear about your friend's condition, I can't imagine how tough that must be. I did some digging online, and from what I was reading, it seems that optic nerve restoration is very complicated and therefore the process appears to still be in a research and experimental phase. I found two articles on research being done that I think are really informative and might be a good read: https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2014-09-22-eye-tranplantation.aspx
https://consumer.healthday.com/eye-care-information-13/eye-and-vision-problem-news-295/scientists-set-their-sights-on-first-whole-eye-transplant-692505.html
I also found a more recent article from January of this year that shows some more recent research being done on different methods for optic nerve restoration and transplants: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-01-drug-cocktail-vision-optic-nerve.html
I would definitely encourage your friend to stay optimistic and know that research and trials are actively being perused in order to one day find a treatment; I have no doubt modern medicine is significantly closer than it was 12 years ago! Does your friend struggle with things despite it being many years since his accident?
@bharathi As you can see from Ali Skahan's reply below there seems to be a lot of research/experimentation in this area. Hopefully, all of the research will some day produce a treatment for your friend and so many others. Best wishes, Teresa
Thanks for sharing the details. I hope something works out in the near future. For now he is leading a normal life except that he cannot drive. He was strong willed and got back to action pretty soon. 🙂
Thanks for your encouraging words. Yes, he does have vision in his left eye. He has artificial prosthesis done for the right eye.