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A 78-year-old Israeli man, legally blind, has reportedly regained his sight after an artificial cornea transplant – the first time such a procedure has been successful.
Jamal Furani from Haifa was able to read a text and recognize relatives after receiving CorNeat Vision’s biomimetic implant during the less than an hour’s operation last month, The Times of Israel reported.
“Unveiling that implanted first eye and being in that room was surreal,” company co-founder Dr Gilad Litvin told the newspaper.
“To see another human being regain their sight the next day was electrifying and moving,” said Litvin. “There were a lot of tears in the room.”
The artificial cornea, made of a non-degradable synthetic porous material, fits into the ocular wall to replace scarred or deformed corneas.
Once implanted, the material integrates with living tissue by stimulating “cell proliferation” in the eye, in part through chemical engineering at the nanoscale, the company said.
After his bandages were removed, Furani saw the light, the company said in a Jan.11 statement.
“The surgical procedure was straightforward and the result exceeded our expectations,” said Prof Irit Bahar, who performed the implant surgery, in the statement.
Furani suffered from eye edema and other illnesses that left him legally blind for about a decade, the outlet said.
Furani was one of 10 patients approved for the experimental procedure at Rabin Medical Center, with two more sites set to open in Canada this month.
Other sites in the United States, France and the Netherlands are pending approval.
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