Word: corneas
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...operations, reported by two separate research teams in last week's New England Journal of Medicine and the July issue of Cornea, represent the most dramatic successes to date of so-called stem-cell bioengineering--using the body's own master cells to make replacement tissue. Doctors have employed stem cells to grow skin grafts for burn victims and to repair cartilage in damaged knees, but the technique had never been used successfully in an organ as complex...
...patients treated had so severely damaged their corneas (the transparent layer that covers the iris) that conventional cornea transplants were no longer an option. Some 2,000 to 4,000 Americans suffer similar corneal scarring each year--from chemical burns, diseases or chronic inflammation, according to Dr. Ivan Schwab at the University of California at Davis, who led the U.S. team. The operation, however, cannot help those with congenital retinal or optic-nerve disorders...
TOMORROW: Permanent lens implants to correct vision while leaving the cornea intact...
...elective procedure that carries the risk of serious and permanent complications. Corneaplasty, now in FDA trials, could carry fewer risks. While both corneaplasty and corneal surgery are treatments for refractive errors, neither is a cure for myopia. You cannot treat myopia comprehensively just by altering the shape of the cornea. High tech may be glamorous, but it is not always the best medicine. JULIE RALLS, M.D. Newport Beach, Calif...
...excellent job in presenting both sides of laser eye surgery. As an optometrist, I am not recommending this procedure. History will teach us that the cornea is not a structure we can mess around with. The risks (e.g., current surgical mishaps and potentially devastating long-term complications) are simply not worth it. CLAYTON Y. GUSHIKEN, O.D. Honolulu...