[Blindtlk] [blindtlk] transplants

[Arielle Silverman]

Yes. Lebers affects the retina so transplantation is not yet an
option. Some forms of Lebers are amenable to gene therapy treatment at
least in trial subjects who have a lot of usable vision. If you do a
search you will find a lot of info online about experimental gene
therapy. Personally I wouldn't go for any medical intervention that
hadn't passed out of the trial phase yet but that's just my opinion. I
went to one of the LCA conferences and though I was a biology major at
the time, I was bored to tears with the presentations. However, it can
be a good way to reach out and support families with younger children.
Also, it is becoming common for Lebers folks to get genetic testing
done. I am not interested in treatment but am considering getting the
testing done because certain genetic variants are associated with
kidney complications and that might be something good for me to know
about before I start getting old. That said, nearly everyone I know
who has LCA-related kidney disease developed it in childhood, so if
you don't have issues now you probably won't get them.
Arielle

On 11/10/14, Larry Wayland via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> You are right, the cornea is the only part of the eye that can be
> transplanted at this time.  However there are lens implants for those with
> cataracts.
> Scientist are working on growing retinas with stem cells. If successful the
> retinas would be transplanted into the eye. I don't think there would be a
> rejection problem with this because the stem cells would come from the
> persons own body.  That is a long way off though.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cindy Ray
> via blindtlk
> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2014 3:01 PM
> To: Ineyda Velasquez; Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] [blindtlk] transplants
>
> The main transplant done I think is still the cornea, but I am sure someone
> can correct me if I would be wrong.
> Cindy
>
> On Nov 10, 2014, at 2:55 PM, Ineyda Velasquez via blindtlk
> <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> Someone asked me if I'd ever asked my eye doctor about getting a
> transplant for the damaged parts of my eyes. Can that actually be done or
> does it depend on the condition you have? I have Leber's congenital
> amaurosis.
>>
>> Ineyda
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
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