Experimental Synthetic Cornea Restores Vision for 20 Patients

The synthetic eye implant made from pig skin was used to restore the vision of 20 people.

A new paper details how researchers in India and Iran created synthetic corneas out of frozen pig skin and implanted them into 20 people.

In order to find out how well the experimental implant would work, the team implanted synthetic corneas into the eyes of 14 blind patients.

After 24 months, all 20 patients had restored vision and were able to wear contact lens.

Neil Lagali is the study lead and experimental ophthalmologist at Sweden's Linkping University.

By seeding the implants with human corneal epithelial cells after they'd been placed in the eyes of the subjects, Lagali and his colleagues discovered that the cells they used both grew and became transparent on the eyes of implantees just over two weeks after they were implanted, he said.

The research was accompanied by testing by independent labs to make sure the implants themselves were sterile, and they found that the synthetic pig corneas were more shelf stable than human donor tissues, which only have a shelf life of a week or two.

Even though lots of study has gone into the creation and development of synthetic corneas, the researchers noted in their study that nobody has yet attempted their specific implant procedure.

It could reach people who have poor access to eye care, as the new implants can be shipped anywhere and stored in a refrigerator prior to use. Many centers and rural areas don't have eye banks.

Curing Corneal Blindness with Pig Skin Implants is a technology that has been around for a long time.

There's more on bio engineered eyesight.