A new surgery can give legally blind people 20/20 vision

By Nathan Rousseau Smith, Buzz60

Eyesight is arguably one of the most devastating senses a person can lose, and damaging it is all too common. According to the CDC, 3.4 million Americans aged 40 or over are considered legally blind or visually impaired. But now a new breakthrough in technology may be able to reverse blindness caused by a traumatic brain injury even to levels of perfect vision.

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Researchers partnering with the Washington University School of Medicine studied 20 patients who experienced hemorrhaging in the eyes caused by traumatic injury.

A special procedure called vitrectomy replaced the tissue behind the lens with a saline solution.

Within a few months, almost all patients went from having an average of 20/1290 vision to 20/20 vision! Even more amazing, the amount of time between the trauma and the treatment didn't seem to matter. Commenting on this huge development one of the doctors said, "it was important to learn how long we could wait to operate without having a negative effect on vision."