55 years ago, a man was left blind in one eye after being hit by a stone. Today, surgeons have managed to reattach his retina, enabling him to ‘count fingers’ up to 15ft away.

He was left completely blind in his right eye after the incident, which occured when he was eight. Last year, aged 63, he attended the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary complaining of persistent pain in his eye.

It was discovered that he had glaucoma and high eye pressure. After his treatment, he was able to discern light again. This encouraged the doctors to carry out surgery to reattach his retina. Dr Olusola, of the infirmary, said: “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of visual recovery in a patient with long-standing traumatic retinal detachment. This is not only a great result for our patient, but has implications for restoring eyesight in other patients.”

Similar procedures may be used in the future to regenerate diseased retinas.

Written exclusively for The Life Dept | Live Longer | providers of life assurance, critical illness insurance and income protection | 17 June 2011