Stem Cells Restore Vision

[Mr. Laz]

Stem cells restore vision in blind man

Image via Four Winds

Taylor Binns never planned to experience a simple delight of the world again: seeing it. The world was slowly going black, and time was running out. So he took his only options: a new procedure using stem cells. What we all take for granted became his gift: he could see again.

In a road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions story, Binns was doing mission work in Haiti, where he developed eye pain and blurring vision. No one knew what the problem was. Doctors were baffled while he slowly went legally blind during a two-year period.

In Binns' words, "Everything you could do before was being taken away, day by day, and it got worse and worse."

Finally, he was diagnosed with corneal limbal stem cell deficiency, which essentially meant his eyes were building scar tissue. Many things can cause the disease, including leaving contact lenses in for too long without disinfecting them. It also creates a problem: due to the nature of the disease, a corneal transplant is not an option.

What was an option was a procedure called a limbal stem cell transplant. Doctors in Toronto removed the scar tissue from his eyes and replaced it with stem cells from his sister's eyes. In a month, his vision was 20/40. It rose to 20/20 and 20/40.

His pain is gone.