Two Moorfields patients, Robert and Mohammed, were featured on BBC One’s The One Show on Tuesday 10 October. The two patients, both victims of chemical attacks, have been receiving sight-restoring stem cell therapy under the care of consultant ophthalmic surgeon Mr Sajjad Ahmad and his team.
Both men sadly lost their sight in one eye due to the attacks. Robert, a farmer, was attacked during a burglary. Mohammed, a taxi driver and father of five, was unable to work any longer following his attack by a passenger.
This pioneering stem cell therapy has been carried out at Moorfields for several years now, to help restore sight to patients who have lost sight in one eye in due to chemical injuries. It was previously featured in the BBC One documentary Inside Out in 2019, which followed a patient, James, whose sight was restored after 25 years of sight loss due to an acid attack.
The procedure first involves taking a very small sample of stem cells from the healthy, working eye, which is transported to a lab and cultivated to grow healthy cells. This process can take up to a couple months, but once complete, this “patch” of cells is transported back to the hospital, where now, a new surgery removes the scarred or damaged tissue, and implants the new stem cells. If the implant is successful, eventually the patient can then undergo a corneal transplant to restore their sight.
Both Robert and Mohammed have happily been able to regain sight in their affected eye.
11 October 2023