Answer:
Yes,
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How far away is a cure for blindness?
Written by James McIntosh on March 18, 2015
Losing one of your senses is a frightening prospect for most people, but for many people, it is an unfortunate reality. Millions of people in the US face the prospect of irreversible changes to their ability to see the world around them.
Worldwide, there are an estimated 39 million people living with blindness. Around 82% are aged 50 and above.
As you read this passage, the fact that you have the ability to see and read might not even cross your mind. There are a lot of people who are not as fortunate. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide. Of these, 39 million are blind and 246 million have low vision.
A recent poll conducted by Research!America and the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) found that Americans regarded the loss of vision as potentially having the biggest impact on everyday life, ranking it alongside cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and HIV as one of the top four “worst things that could happen to you.”
Unfortunately, losing eyesight is a common problem, be it due to the process of aging or the development of a specific condition. The good news is that 80% of visual impairment can be prevented or cured, but what of the remaining 20%?
In this Spotlight article, we take a brief look at retinal degeneration disorders – a group of related conditions that are presently without a cure. What treatments are currently being developed? And can researchers envision a future where sight can be restored to all patients?
