A first-of-its-kind procedure lets 83-year-old Italian man regain sight

In what can be described as groundbreaking, an 83-year-old blind man was able to see again partly following surgery. In a first-of-its-kind procedure, the entire surface of his blind left eye was transplanted into his blind right one.

The operation happened about two weeks back at Turin's Molinette hospital. The man in question can now see and recognise people and objects around him. He is also able to move around without assistance. His left eye was reconstructed with donor tissue.

"The real innovation is to have expanded corneal transplantation to the entire eye surface, to the conjunctivo-scleral tissues, which play a key role in enabling successful transplantation under special conditions," the doctors said.

"The frontier of transplantation has advanced considerably in the last 20 years, and Italy plays a leading role globally," Professor Vincenzo Sarnicola, President of the Italian Cornea and Stem Cell Society, said of the surgery.

The procedure is known as corneal autotransplantation and was done for the first time in the world.

The patient, who can now see from one eye, had lost sight in his left eye 30 years back due to irreversible retinal blindness. He lost the ability to see fully 10 years ago after he went blind in his right eye as well due to a rare medical condition.

The four-hour-long surgery was performed by a medical team led by Michael Reibaldi, director of the Molinette University Eye Clinic and expert retinal surgeon, Vincent Sarnicola, president of the Italian Society of cornea and stemness.