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Blind man can see again after nearly 20 years
A man from the USA, who went blind almost 20 years ago, can now see again. The now 55-year-old had been diagnosed with a rare disease that robbed him of his eyesight. Why he won it back now, the doctors can not explain so far.
Eyesight regained after years
Again and again it is reported that people temporarily go blind. This can happen, for example, with regular mobile phone use at night in the dark, as a team of physicians from Great Britain wrote in the journal "The New England Journal of Medicine". However, the fact that a person loses his eyesight for years and then regains it - and for no apparent reason - is more than extraordinary. But that's exactly what happened to a man in the US.
An American who lost his eyesight almost 20 years ago can now see again. It is not clear to medical professionals why this is so. (Image: Peterchen / fotolia.com) First ray of hope after 16 years
According to a report by the US broadcaster "CBS", a man from Manhattan, New York, who went blind in 1997, has regained much of his sight.
Kevin Coughlin, now 55, was diagnosed with Liver Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) and stated, "I literally only saw a very thick, impenetrable fog."
But three years ago, for the first time in more than 16 years, he said he saw something again, the "reflection of a ray of light on my medication cabinet"..
Eyesight at 70 percent
According to media reports, his eyesight has now improved to 70 percent - and rising. Why this is so, the doctors can not explain so far. Coughlin himself believes it may be related to his dietary change and meditation that has been practiced for a long time.
The New Yorker expressed his great joy over the restored sight to CBS. Also, that his guide dog Elias is no longer used: "I see more and more and Elias has not worn his harness for a year and a half."
Men get sick much more often
Liver's hereditary optic neuropathy, which was detected in Coughlin, is a rare hereditary disease that, according to the Internet portal "Rare Diseases," within weeks or months leads to a mostly persistent high-grade and bilateral vision loss.
"About one in 30,000 people suffers from LHON, while men fall significantly more often than women. The age of onset usually lies between the ages of 15 and 35, "write the experts.
Enable visual performance through AC pulses
There has been no established therapy for the disease so far, but some encouraging approaches have been reported in recent years.
Physicians from the Universities of Göttingen and Magdeburg and the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin have recently been able to demonstrate that in partially blind patients with glaucoma vision can be reactivated by alternating current impulses. Among the study participants were also patients with LHON. (Ad)