Gift of Sight: Stem-Cell Patches for Wet and Dry Macular Degeneration

For people who have relied on good eyesight for the first six or seven decades of their lives, the diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is devastating. This disease, which currently has no cure, can severely limit central vision and, in many cases, may culminate in legal blindness (unable to see the Big E on the eye chart; vision less than 20/200). Early results from two new stem-cell trials, however, suggest that this type of treatment may be able to restore sight in people with both the dry and wet forms of AMD.