Restoring Retinas

Norbert, you know we have to do these every once in a while' the senior episodes. I can't even disagree with you anymore since the aches and pains are just piling on! So this time we're talking about retinal detachment which can happen the older we get. The good news is there's a new gel being developed that improves the outcome of surgeries to repair torn retinas.

When light shines into our eyes, it passes through the cornea, aqueous humor, lens, and something called vitreous body which maintains the shape of our eyes. The vitreous body consists of a clear jelly-like substance that transmits light to the retina in the back of the eye. It also presses on the retina to keep it together.

With age, the vitreous can start to liquefy and lose structure which pulls on the retina, risking a tear and detachment. The problem with the existing treatment is that it replaces the vitreous body with either a gas or oil but each carries its own complications.

The new gel, however, seems to be biocompatible and retains vision. They start with two types of star-shaped polymers each with a unique reactive chemical group on the ends. In separate reactions, they allow both polymers to start the reactions to create a gel but stop the process before it's complete. Then they mixed the two types of polymers together, injected them into rabbit eyes and let the polymerization go to completion.

The rabbit's repaired retinas stayed attached for over four hundred days. Not only were there no side effects, the gel didn't alter vision. They still need to work out issues such as whether the gel is easily removable and will remain stable and clear for years.