Man’s vision gives insight on seeing - Blind for 43 years Michael May can see again.

Associated Press ^ | 08/25/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

After 43 years of blindness, Michael May can see again.

HE CAN play soccer with his sons, enjoy movies and, for the first time, gaze on the Sierra Nevada slopes he has expertly skied — sightless — since the late 1970s.

But May can’t recognize his sons, Carson, 11, and Wyndham, 9, by their faces alone. The same goes for identifying Jennifer, his wife of 15 years.

People “can’t fathom that,” said May, who owns a company in Davis, Calif., that makes navigational software for the blind.

Three years after surgery restored sight to May’s right eye, researchers say May’s case shows how vision is more than just eye function. Blindness has long-term effects on how the brain processes information and constructs one’s view of the world.

May lost his sight to a chemical explosion when he was 3½ years old. He eventually lost his left eye and remained blind in his right until the surgery in 2000.

But testing since that surgery has showed that May’s ability to interpret what he sees through his good eye is decidedly mixed, said Ione Fine, lead author of a study appearing in the September issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

May can identify simple shapes and colors. He can interpret objects in motion. He can spy faraway peaks. He marvels at the vibrancy of plants and flowers unseen since he lost his vision.

But three-dimensional perception and the ability to recognize complex objects such as the faces of family and friends remain severely impaired. He strains to tell the difference between a man and a woman. He describes a cube as a square with extra lines.

FEW PEOPLE REACQUIRED VISION

Written history mentions perhaps 30 people who reacquired vision after protracted periods of blindness, said Fine, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego. She and her colleagues leapt at the chance to study May and began testing him just months after his cornea- and stem cell-implant surgery. The stem cells formed a protective layer over his new cornea to prevent clouding.

[dogbrain]

sorry, I'm chasing my tail, so to speak.

I thought you were being sarcastic.

Seriously, I wonder if there are any blind FReepers, and if so, how to they FReep?

I know there are plenty of dense ones....

[egarvue]

You are correct, but that may be a thing of the past. My niece is seeing researchers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts who are working on, get this, eye drops that repair damaged rods and cones in the retina. They've been successful in lab tests and animals, and now have FDA approval for tests on people. You're right in cases of damage to the optic nerve, but many who are blind from birth have just damaged retinas (like my niece).

If one has a functioning optic nerve, they are already developing microchip technology that will rest on the back of the eye and act as a prosthetic retina, they've already done it, saw it on Discovery a while back. The image they can get is only a 9 pixel (3x3 grid) image, but once the transmission method is good, they can always increase the complexity of the pixel grid. My digital camera from just a year ago is already outdated in the amount of megapixels that it can receive; I have no doubt that these "eye chips" will also increase in resolution. Just think of how far technology came in just the last decade; we can't even begin to imagine what kinds of new tech will be there in 18 years when my niece graduates from high school.

Also, don't forget demographics; the baby boom generation is getting older, and billions of dollars will be poured into the medical establishment and medical research because of it. If you thought the WWII generation spent money on medical care (and thereby fueling medical research), you haven't seen anything like what their kids are going to spend.

[dogbrain]

"...eye drops that repair damaged rods and cones in the retina..."

THAT would be nice, since both of my retinas have fallen off at one time or another.

[Dilbert56]

Nobody has said these were from fetal tissue. Most (or is it all) of the breakthroughs to date have been from adult stem cells. The President didn't stop embryonic stem cell research either. He won't fund new research that derives its cells from new fetuses. As a former fetus, I applaud his decision. Work can still continue with cell lines that have already been extracted. You won't believe it if you've been infected with Washington, DC fever but it's also possible for research to continue without the federal government funding it. The President consulted leading ethicists and scientists before arriving at his decision. He did not do so lightly. It's wrong to suggest that people here did so either.

Personally, I'm getting tired of the President's supporters being characterized as blindly following him. To me, his opponents have flat out stated they intend to oppose him everywhere. They never qualify that by saying they'll oppose him everytime he's wrong. They are the knee-jerk reactionaries (knee optional).

[dogbrain]

"I don't think they're on fr..."

Don't you think they should be? ;^)

[billhilly]

I have read and re-read your post, the full article, and your answer to me and still fail to understand your post. Are you suggesting that freerepublic posters are opposed to medical science?

I am personally blind in one eye, a fairly recent situation involving many serious surgeries. I would have welcomed God's intervention, and indeed, it may have happened and I failed to recognize it. At any rate, my retina continued to detach after all procedures failed. Many months of recovery, most of it face down, gave me lots of time to reflect.

Guess what? At my advanced age of 65 I am grateful that I enjoyed good vision that long, and I have to believe I owe it to the designer of mankind, the most advanced scientific success ever undertaken, and may I add, not to be duplicated, in my opinion. Already I am convinced that it can't be done in a day or a week.

[SengirV]

I have read and re-read your post, the full article, and your answer to me and still fail to understand your post. Are you suggesting that freerepublic posters are opposed to medical science?

Some != all. I pointed out an example of a topic in the bible(slavery) that God himself gave a thumbs up to. Kinda wacky? Huh? There are SOME posters here who would assume to judge in place of God with respect to Stem Cell research. Yes, I know about adult stem cells and that research is lacking because SOME posters oppose ANY research where the words 'Stem' and 'Cell' appear.

I don't know how to spell it out any simpler. If you can't compare/contrast the two, then I can not help you any more.

[billhilly]

"I don't know how to spell it out any simpler. If you can't compare/contrast the two, then I can not help you any more."

Don't get the impression that you have helped me, and for God's sake, I don't expect you to help me "anymore."

I do hope you understand what quotation marks mean.

[Walkingfeather]

I have no doubt the technology will be there to see, but that is not the problem. The problem is the neuro pathways that are developed in the brain. You can send a visual signal to the brain but if the pathways are not their ( blind from birth) the signal means nothing.
Even children born a few months old that have lost their sight do to disease or accident if through transplant can regain their sight because the brain has has that kind of stumulus.
I could be wrong here but I think that is the issue here, there is no way to restart or create new paths if their werent any. Like the article says... the guy can not distinguish between man woman, and some shapes.... that is not a sight issue it is an intereptation issue. I pray that i am wrong

[SengirV]

I do hope you understand what quotation marks mean.

I have no idea what that statement means. If you are referring to quoting from another's post(or parts there of), then there are MANY standards shere on FR. I choose the italicized followed by a paragraph break. Actaully that is THE most common usage here. If that is not what you mean, then I am lost because of a lack of information in your post.