Forty years later, an 86-year-old blind Italian man saw once more today, 2, his ocular surface was reattached during an unprecedented surgery and what seemed impossible happened.
It was 40 years without hope that now, thanks to an innovative surgery, has just become reality. The intervention was carried out at the Molinete hospital in Turin, and the patient is already recovering at home.
He lived with total blindness in both eyes. Now his entire ocular surface has been reimplanted in an operation that lasted four hours and the seemingly impossible has happened. The surgery was performed at the Molinete hospital in Italy, it mightn’t have gone better despite the conditions, such as the patient’s age and some weaknesses.
At the end of the surgery, the elderly man who came to see him said it was like being born once more.
“When I woke up and started to see the outline of my fingers and hand, it was like being born once more”, said the man, moved. Seeing once more was a distant dream for the elderly, but one that science was able to fulfill. The family thanked the doctors even without knowing how to thank such a gesture. The patient is already at home and recovering as expected.
Regarding the operation, this consists of extending the transplant of corneas to the entire ocular surface, to the connective-scleral tissues, which play a fundamental role in allowing the success of the transplant in particular conditions, the doctors said in an official note.
