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Optic Nerve

Brain & Nervous System | Last Active: Jul 12, 2016 | Replies (8)

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@hopeful33250

Hello @bharathi, Welcome to Mayo Connect! Your friend is so fortunate to have you! This problem is not something within my area of experience, but I know that at Mayo Connect there are probably some folks to offer encouragement and support as you seek help for your friend. Does your friend still have vision in his left eye? How is he dealing with this loss? Best wishes to you and your friend and as you find help and encouragement at Mayo Connect. Teresa

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Replies to "Hello @bharathi, Welcome to Mayo Connect! Your friend is so fortunate to have you! This problem..."

Thanks for your encouraging words. Yes, he does have vision in his left eye. He has artificial prosthesis done for the right eye.

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. 🙂