Study Restores Damaged Corneas

Scientists have created a new kind of artificial cornea, inserting a sliver of collagen into the eye, coaxing the eye's own natural corneal cells to regrow and restore vision.
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Vision depends on a healthy cornea, the film-like covering of the eye's surface that helps it focus light. Corneas are easily harmed by injury or infection, and about 42,000 people in the U.S. receive transplanted corneas every year. But for many of the estimated 10 million people world-wide with corneal blindness, donated corneas aren't available. And transplants bring risk of rejection.
The new bio-artificial cornea attempts to induce healing by using the same natural substances in a real cornea. "I characterize this work as a major advance in the direction that we need to go," said Alan Carlson, cornea transplant chief at Duke University's eye center, who wasn't involved in the research.
A cornea's structure is made up of tissue called collagen. The researchers took human collagen grown in yeast and molded it into a contact lens-like shape—the scaffolding for a cornea. Dr. Griffith, working with Linkoping University eye surgeon Per Fagerholm, studied the bio-artificial cornea in 10 patients with severe vision loss from corneal damage.