Surgeons in Turin restore sight to woman blind five years after transferring retina between her own eyes
A 67-year-old woman named Elena can see again after surgeons at Molinette Hospital in Turin transplanted the macula and anterior segment from one of her eyes to the other. Professor Michele Reibaldi led the surgical team that performed the procedure in 2024. Elena had been completely blind for more than five years following a road accident. The crash damaged the optic nerve in her left eye and destroyed the retina and cornea in her right eye, which already had macular disease. The surgeons took healthy but non-functioning tissue from the left eye and moved an entire anatomical block to the right eye. That block included the cornea, sclera, conjunctiva, and the central portion of the retina. No one had transferred the macula between a patient's own eyes before. The hospital allowed Elena's guide dog Joe to stay with her throughout her admission.
The technique overcomes what surgeons worldwide had considered an impossible barrier in eye surgery and could restore sight to other patients with similar injuries.
Source: Autotrapianto della retina centrale, intervento eseguito per la prima volta al mondo alle Molinette (lastampa.it). Spotted via Good News Network.
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