Retinitis Pigmentosa

Bionic eye maker has vision of the future

Robert Greenberg got tired of hearing from senior engineers that it wasn't possible to build his product idea: a bionic eye that gives sight to the blind. "A lot of the folks straight out of school didn't know any better, ...

Medical research created May 06, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

Eye implants make vision-restoring progress

(Medical Xpress) -- "I was blind once but now I can see.” The words are no longer the sole property of religious testimony and literature. Medical progress is being made in the restoration of vision as ...

Ophthalmology created Jul 18, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast report

New stem cell approach for blindness successful in mice (w/ video)

(Medical Xpress)—Blind mice can see again, after Oxford University researchers transplanted developing cells into their eyes and found they could re-form the entire light-sensitive layer of the retina. 

Ophthalmology created Jan 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bionic eye gives hope to the blind

After years of research, the first bionic eye has seen the light of day in the United States, giving hope to the blind around the world.

Ophthalmology created Feb 05, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 0

Australians implant 'world first' bionic eye

Australian scientists said Thursday they had successfully implanted a "world first" bionic eye prototype, describing it as a major breakthrough for the visually impaired.

Ophthalmology created Aug 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 0

Engineer invents bionic eye to help the blind

(Medical Xpress)—For UCLA bioengineering professor Wentai Liu, more than two decades of visionary research burst into the headlines last month when the FDA approved what it called "the first bionic eye for the blind." ...

Ophthalmology created Mar 25, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Gene therapy research cures retinitis pigmentosa in dogs

Members of a University of Pennsylvania research team have shown that they can prevent, or even reverse, a blinding retinal disease, X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa, or XLRP, in dogs.

Genetics created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Gene therapy restores sense of smell, may aid research into other diseases caused by cilia defects

Scientists have restored the sense of smell in mice through gene therapy for the first time—a hopeful sign for people who can't smell anything from birth or lose it due to disease.

Medical research created Sep 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Reseachers develop holographic technique for bionic vision

Researchers led by biomedical engineering Professor Shy Shoham of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are testing the power of holography to artificially stimulate cells in the eye, with hopes of ...

Medical research created Feb 26, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists produce eye structures from human blood-derived stem cells

(Medical Xpress) -- For the first time, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made early retina structures containing proliferating neuroretinal progenitor cells using induced pluripotent ...

Ophthalmology created Mar 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Artificial retina receives FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted market approval to an artificial retina technology today, the first bionic eye to be approved for patients in the United States. The prosthetic technology ...

Ophthalmology created Feb 14, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Altering eye cells may one day restore vision

(Medical Xpress)—Doctors may one day treat some forms of blindness by altering the genetic program of the light-sensing cells of the eye, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine ...

Ophthalmology created Jan 25, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers develop gene therapy that could correct a common form of blindness

A new gene therapy method developed by University of Florida researchers has the potential to treat a common form of blindness that strikes both youngsters and adults. The technique works by replacing a malfunctioning gene ...

Ophthalmology created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Photoreceptor transplant restores vision in mice

Scientists funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) have shown for the first time that transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptors into the eyes of visually impaired mice can restore their vision.

Medical research created Apr 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Stem cells improve visual function in blind mice

An experimental treatment for blindness, developed from a patient's skin cells, improved the vision of blind mice in a study conducted by Columbia ophthalmologists and stem cell researchers.

Medical research created Oct 01, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast


Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of genetic eye conditions that leads to incurable blindness. In the progression of symptoms for RP, night blindness generally precedes tunnel vision by years or even decades. Many people with RP do not become legally blind until their 40s or 50s and retain some sight all their lives. Others go completely blind from RP, in some cases as early as childhood. Progression of RP is different in each case.

RP is a type of progressive retinal dystrophy, a group of inherited disorders in which abnormalities of the photoreceptors (rods and cones) or the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of the retina lead to progressive visual loss. Affected individuals first experience defective dark adaptation or nyctalopia (night blindness), followed by reduction of the peripheral visual field (known as tunnel vision) and, sometimes, loss of central vision late in the course of the disease.

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