A 59-year-old woman named Connie, who was left blind 15 years ago, has finally regained her sight after a life-changing operation. Doctors initially believed the woman had glaucoma when she rapidly began to lose her eyesight. However, in 2018, an ophthalmologist diagnosed her with cataracts—one of the most common and treatable adult vision complications.
In 2003 Connie, who lives in Colorado, began noticing prisms and halos on lights while driving and immediately went to a doctor who told her she had glaucoma. Less than a month later, she lost even more sight and peripheral vision.
Doctors confirmed her vision was inoperable. She went completely blind. However, Connie was determined not to let her condition hold her back; she continued doing things she loved before—like kayaking, ice skating, camping, and attending concerts and sporting events. “I was so happy to be in the nosebleeds screaming my lungs out and not seeing anything. I just lived life as much as I possibly could the way I did before I lost my sight,” she said.
Still, Connie found some things challenging to adjust to. “I wasn’t really sure how to use a cane, and I would keep walking into bushes. I had to have somebody with me when I cooked to make sure the food looked okay. I couldn’t vacuum and had to sweep in a pattern,” she explained.
In 2018, she got the surgery that changed her life around. On November 12, her right eye was operated on, and it was a success. “When they took my patch off the next day, the first thing I saw was the nurse’s eyebrow, eyelashes, and pupil, and I started crying. She had me read an eye chart, and the first line I read was 20/20,” Connie recalled.
Connie said:
I had the second eye done, and right after Thanksgiving, I saw 20/20 out of both eyes.
With her vision restored, Connie was able to see her family again finally. The last time Connie saw her eldest granddaughter, she was just a baby. “The eldest doesn’t look anything like she looked when she was three weeks old,” she joked. As for her other eight grandchildren, she was seeing them for the first time ever!
In addition, Connie was highly grateful to witness the unfolding beauties of nature once again. “I got to watch all the flowers bud and the trees grow leaves. People think it’s tedious to watch grass grow, but when you haven’t seen a blade of grass in years, you watch the grass grow,” Connie said.
She was also delighted to see her husband again, stating that “he’s still the most handsome man ever, and I’m still completely in love with him.” Now, Connie is excited to retake the vacations the couple went on while she was completely blind. “He took me to the Oregon coast, Yellowstone, and all through the Rockies. So now I just want to experience it again. Well, I want to go see it,” she said.
As for Connie’s guide dog Talulah Mae, he now acts as a regular, much-loved dog. He also works as a unit clerk for UCHealth.
Earlier this month, we saw an incredible breakthrough that marked a significant milestone in genetic blindness treatment. For the first time, doctors could partially restore the vision of a completely blind French man using light-sensing algae proteins.
The man was diagnosed with the rare, genetic eye condition retinitis pigmentosa (RP) – which causes the death of light-sensing cells on the retina – forty years ago. The condition affects over two million people worldwide, and while complete blindness is rare, the man has had no vision for the past twenty years.
The French man was treated with optogenetics therapy, which uses the algae proteins to control cells at the back of his eye. He first realized the treatment was working when he could see the painted stripes of a crosswalk. Impressively, he can now count and grab objects too!
According to the study published on May 24 in Nature Medicine, this is the first reported case of partial functional recovery in a neurodegenerative condition after optogenetic therapy.
