My conditions are on the rise from cataracts to nearsightedness and Macular Degeneration millions of people worldwide suffer from poor vision. Climate reading fine print is almost impossible you have to hold the book up to your brain and young people are increasingly affected around 270000000 people are visually impaired and 36000000 a blindfold wide this season our sense of sight plays a vital role in our lives but if things are very difficult for love rather it is for the put off of. Modern surgical techniques and this invasive and can help restore our society. And its a quantum leap of mine a revolution will soon. From Stem Cell Therapy to laser surgery new treatments like giving patients hope. This Residential Development in the city of minds germany is home to. Her brother max and their parents. 13 year old lily is an ordinary teenager she goes to dance class twice a week and she likes to chat with her friends. And family has been nearsighted since the 4th grade she has minus 4 diopter is in her right eye mind is 0. 5 in her left one when lily takes off her glasses the world looks like bees even nearby objects appear blurred and her eyesight is continuing to deteriorate mclellan. I see things best when theyre very close but it keeps getting worse. When i take off my glasses even my hand. Exploring anything further away is even blurrier. News sightedness all myopia is a result of the shape of the art. Normally rays of light entering the eye refracted so they focus on the red at the back of the on when the eyeball is too long well the cornea to move to the light focuses at a point in front of the retina objects that are further away appear blue and. Thats always i saw with our eyes are designed for distance vision spending a lot of time looking at nearby objects put strain on our eyes our eyes then gradually deform so that we can see nearby objects more easily but then we end up not being able to see objects at a distance as well. Thats whats called being near sighted. Myopia is partly hereditary lose parents are also near sighted. Really has an appointment at the eye clinic in mines for thorough examination. Nor the fine for heads the eye clinic and is the specialist in the sightedness. First comes the exam with the sleep plan or just in myself but your chin on the chin rest you knew. He 1st examined. An optic nerve in both eyes nearsighted people should get a vision exam at least once a year. Where people can promote the development of a serious od disorders it increases the risk of retinal detachment and cataracts. Lily is nearsighted at minus 4. 00 to 5. 00 diopters thats fairly nearsighted not as much as some but its quite a lot she started out with a quarter of a diopter when she was about 10 that tends to increase with age. Maybe 18 or 20 needs to go what fun i thought gailey is an example of how nearsightedness is on the rise. Hes investigating the coolness of this increase in a large scale german study involving 15000 patients. The study has been underway for 12 years. The longer you go to school the more nearsighted you become of us money for every year you go to school you get a bit more nearsighted and that goes for University Degrees the longer you study the more nearsighted you become because so nearsightedness has a behavioral component. In supply. So myopia isnt just hereditary our lifestyle plays a role. Nearsightedness is linked to educational levels and is on the cross worldwide. And vice is an. Even more young people are nearsighted money to lend and some countries up to 80. 00 or 90 percent. We think one factor might be the age at which children start school tie in some Asian Countries they start school when theyre just 3 or 4 years old and in taiwan for example myopia has reached epidemic proportions up to 90 percent of School Children in major cities and nearsighted schools and universities are fresh cauldrons the workload is heavy even move than in europe long hours of study lead to more knee sightedness but many dont realize is that it myopia remains untreated it can lead to blindness. Can shrug of his vision problems for years a Software Engineer he was working on a new program when he suffered a written detachment he underwent 12 surgeries but nothing helped most is now blind at one point he contemplated suicide i came here i can move there are always going to be there for me just. Because of the family bonding made me realize that perhaps. From settle down here myself when i get to Something Like a studio something for myself and others i. Can now goes to schools to tell his story and raise awareness about nice sightedness. In the classroom he tries to connect with the children on a personal level. Every half hour we let our eyes have a brain injury how long to go 10 minutes never cry and law school how long should you play outside every day. Now its. The children are supposed to give their eyes upright from schoolwork but not now as hes in the books is ingrained in asian culture its an uphill battle the w. H. O. Estimates that past the worlds population will be short sighted within 30 here its that simple measures could make a difference. Thats. The most important thing is to send children outside into the sunlight for 2 hours every day in sauna unleashed in the we know this is the best way to prevent nearsightedness eyelash docs and taken out an instrument called a look at is used to measure light intensity so in these and be a war you probably say theres plenty of light in this office but enough to work by the meter is showing 102. 5 lux thats not much like sniff the light is much brighter outside so see if you neal. Even bright lamps and no substitute for daylight eyes need sunlight the chance to view objects at a distance outside the light intensity is 100 times higher. Than the world by so its a meter outside us but even though its cloudy were seeing 13600. 00 light into thats much higher looks if it were sunny oh it would be even higher than the door to the other one. Bright sunlight can be a 100000 looks all move it may seem trivial but daylight works wonders against new sightedness. Back at the clinic lily is undergoing another vision test shes supposed to read the numbers off the charts. Shes asked if she can read the largest number there all the even the largest number is blurred. Possible continue monitoring lose vision and making sure she gets enough sunlight. Its the only way to treat her new sightedness and preserve her vision. And eye clinic in cologne germany specializes in other vision problems. Alfred ramit is 60 years old he lives an hour away and comes here for treatment remet runs a company with over 2000 employees and often travels abroad his vision has been deteriorating for some time now this is what it looks like out the window this is what alfred remet sees and its getting worse. As this its all kind of foggy blurry and foggy right now im still coping but ordinary activities are getting more difficult. After a dramatic has come here for a consultation with pascoe softened. His chief position at the 20 and a leading expert in cornell disorders. His exam shows that alfred rabbit is a good candidate for surgery. But im the lantern cornea are clouded so 2 layers of the eye are clouded in one surgical procedure will try to eliminate both sources of his clouded vision will replace the lens and transplant the inner layer of the cornea from to young. The transparent cornea is part of the outer casing of the i and serves as a kind of wind shield. Behind it the iris opens and closes to control the amount of light entering the archive. The lens focuses the incoming light to create a sharp image on the retina. The optic nerve then transmits that information to the brain. 2 hours later the surgery is underway flounce course even is preparing the corneal transplant the clinic has its own i pad with corneas from organ donations the cornea does not have a direct blood supply for that reason it can be removed up to 72 hours after death. Casco see even carefully removes the edges of the cornea. The blue contrast agent helps him guide the delegation seasons. The cornea is only a few 1000 of a millimeter thick. Using a precision instrument he removes the intellect of the cornea. 6 the delicate tissue is rolled up and then placed on an injector. 6 the instrument will later help him position the cornea in the patients side. The patient is wheeled into the operating room after dramedy is already under general anesthesia. The eyelids are held open with retractors. With 3 tiny incisions the diseased in a layer of the cornea is removed. You know were. Going to this is the inner clouded lab of the cornea which is selectively removed. If it is about 10000th of a millimeter think. We only remove the disease for last year. And can leave the rest of the cornea in place enough. That speeds up the healing process just a few years ago the entire cornea would have been transplanted. Then the injected is inserted into the eye and the thin cornea layer is unraveled. Little or no color structure in front of the eyes is the transplant it was not and now we have to put it in the proper position. Where. It could have all the fun of all of god now we will film v. I. I. With a gas the gas bubble presses the transplant firmly onto the back of the cornea able to we dont sew it on its held in place by this gas bubble of. The gas bubble pushes the transplant onto the cornea in order for it to attach probably the patient wanted to lie on his back quietly for several days everything goes smoothly and the surgery is a success. Secure grosss helps manage the i bank at the clinic today she retrieved a dont arrive from the Pathology Department the clinic in cologne opened its either in 2000. Secret voters carefully examines the eye for any sign. Of disease she then detaches the cornea bit by bit. Human corneas a still used in transplants but artificial ones and now under development. The doctor places the cornea in a nutrient medium and maintains the incubator at the perfect temperature ready for the next transplant surgery demand is high. As 6000. 00 corneal transplants take place each year in germany and there are another 6000. 00 recipients on the waiting list which of course would like to have more donors to meet this demand but i still get. 5 weeks after the procedure after a dramatic is back at the cologne finnick for a checkup. Since corneas dont have their own blood vessels they really rejected by the recipients immune system unlike we dont know how its for example but he did have some difficulties at 1st he has no goals use on vision perfect i think its me as if im doing well malcolm but the 1st 14 days were hard infinitely he can discuss the future of my i was very sensitive i could hardly open him to feel i was watering and my vision was blurred down off to turn my other i started watering to and felt the strain and but about 10 days ago things got a lot better obvious perfect in growth of horse owners probably most of the surgery was a complete success and beginning process is going well since before the surgery means down time outs bishan was down to about 40 percent now its at 90 percent on what will continue to be more of those results of. Those program its vision in his right eye is almost normal again. The University Hospital in beaumont jim. He focuses on one of the most common eye conditions in the western world age related Macular Degeneration or a. M. D. Karen causes suffers from whats called wet am day. This is how healthy our eyes see the world. This is what karen since shes almost blind in her left eye. Which a. M. D. Is less common than the dr form and it progresses more quickly. At 1st cut in cause its barely noticed the symptoms that have a 1st person but i think it when i was doing my make up and would close one eye to do the other one i thought somethings not right theres a dark spot that shouldnt be there and dont love from there to hurt as im hitting on then i saw my ophthalmologist he did several tests and i got a diagnosis of want eyes open with. The macular is a small area in the retina at the back of the our eye its where our vision is the sharpest and it contains most of the light sensing cells in a emptied blood vessels leak fluid blood into the macular that leads to swelling and damages the photoreceptors. Frank old specializes in the treatment of michael a generation although mt cannot be cured its progression can be slowed. Severely to their account is that the dangerous thing about this condition is that it irreversibly destroys the photoreceptors located in the center of the retina in the macula field where our vision is the sharpest often seen smooth area losing what allows us to remove to recognize faces and drive so many everyday activities rely on all these and its optional are paying when we want the macular is destroyed people find themselves with a serious disability but. Carrying closets comes in for a check. Every 4 weeks left untreated the disease progresses very quickly in size green lines indicate where a crosssection of the retina is being displayed this allows us to examine the structure of the retinal lands and see where there might be fluency feel good. Today to news isnt cause the scans show a small grey sickle on the retina palin will need another injection of the drug thats used to treat the condition. The preparations are complex our eyes a delicate all guns everything needs to be sterile to ensure that bacteria wont into the retina. The drugs injected directly into the are the drugs inhibit a growth factor that promotes the formation of new blood vessels. The procedure itself takes just a few seconds. Does this mean its like a little prick on your finger and its over in a moment and thats it im grateful this treatment exists now would you give it up but as good as consumption shifts and shes responding to the treatment quite well of what i have to keep repeating it will be this is a chronic condition that wont go away or get better. Is. Not all patients many just well its can cause its elation many patients discontinue treatment and the drugs dont work for everyone. But i can make news our broken doctors are investigating the therapies. Burra stansell is a leader in the field. He specializes in retinal surgery in Stem Cell Research and is currently running a major Clinical Study on i am jane. Is one of 150 patients who are taking part in the pilot phase of a new Stem Cell Therapy she was also receiving the injections but they stopped working using this scanner checks to see how quickly the disease is progressing. You mark a mark you know i was in the middle and heres the optic nerve. This black area around what was the macular is where the sounds of dives and its getting bigger and therefore my course of. The disease is very advanced. And good moses vision is only 5 percent of normal in her right eye and 10 percent in the left one. The new therapy ends to reprogram stem cells extracted from the participants blood. Then the dead retinal cells will be replaced with the reprogrammed once. Were hoping to replace sounds and this lab here it is right here its still healthy and you can see right here theyre missing her mother so if we can get new cells to take root in this area then we might be able to revive the outer portion of the retina which is still in relatively good shape to meet. Another benefit of this kind of Stem Cell Therapy is that it doesnt involve any potential ethical concerns. We dont have to use embryonic stem cells we extract the stem cells from the patients own blood in much the same way that you do when a bone marrow donation. And then we convert them into the proper cells in the laboratory and then plant them back into the patient again implanted at. The i b m t for our institutions located just a short distance from the clinic and this collaboration in the development of the new therapy. Borish council is meeting with haagen from breeze and director of the stem cell of our tree the 2 scientists will check on how the reprogramming of the ice cells is coming along. The research is here at work with cell cultures 1st they reprogram the blood cells turning back the clock to return them to an undifferentiated state. Next they multiply the cells and then reprogram them. Those will become new tissue cells including britain ourselves. The new retinal cells can be seen under a microscope reprogramming them is complex. Does my hands an indian see does it say we have to treat these cells with specific biological factors that allows you to return the cells to their original statement as i read it indeed its quite an amazing accomplishment or 1st that something we never dreamed we could do with but 20 years ago it would have been unthinkable fantasy island from ghanas just as killing. The researchers then preserved the new retina cells to store them long term theyll be frozen in a container filled with liquid nitrogen at a temperature of minus 140 degrees celcius. Each sample is scanned and labeled for each patient the container is then placed in the stay. Cell bank. With 20000 samples so far and 15 different partners in industry in medicine this Stem Cell Bank is unique in europe its a promising project and researchers hope that it might one day provide new therapies for ai conditions that today are untreatable. This therapy wont be available anytime soon. But we have been able to show that the therapy would work in principle cause now we all have to get through the approval process which is time consuming and involves a lot of regulatory steps lets us its a process that takes several years here in germany. The researchers have laid the groundwork for a revolutionary new therapy using reprogrammed stem cells to restore vision in a few years this might be a major advance in preventing a. M. T. Related blindness. At the medical university of vienna scientists are also staking out new territory. Air ford is director of the department of the monetary and optometry which is investigating new diagnostic procedures for i conditions. Just im friends our eyes are our window to the world and cellphone but we can also look into the eyes into whats happening inside them. From when we can look into the clear cornea of the clear lens which we also call the clear media. Ophthalmologists can look inside the eyes and laser scanners can also make the surface of the retina visible. 3100. Large scanners can also peer into the retinas deep alliance and create a highly detailed image with 40000 separates. Ganz the device can examine the retina in 3 d. Once the laser scanner creates an image of the patients i the High Resolution images are analyzed with the help of artificial intelligence. On. The north of the system the system or the computer basically works just like the human brain it learns and gathers experience and get smarter. And you can feed the computer an infinite q