Aa
LENS REMOVAL
My granddaughter's left lens was completely removed when she was about 6 and she is totally blind in that eye..She is now 15.Can a lens be implanted to restore her sight.Thanks
I agree with achillea that a retina evaluation is necessary. In case the doctor has not explained it to you, the human visual system is similar to a camera. There is a lens inside the eye which, together with the cornea at the front of the eye, focuses the light, and the retina receives the focused image similar to a camera's image sensor or film.
If her retina is functional, when your granddaughter covers her good eye she should still be able to perceive light in the eye from which the lens was removed, I don't know if it is possible (as achillea describes) for her brain to be totally ignoring signals from that eye simply because they have always been out of focus. A specialist could evaluate her to see if it's the case that her brain has just been 'trained' to ignore feedback from that eye.
If she has no light perception in that eye because her retina or optic nerve are not functional, then implanting a lens will not restore her vision, similar to a camera with no film inside.
FYI the natural lens inside the human eye provides a strong degree of correction (something like 20 diopters or so). Personally I need 14 diopters of correction to my vision, so my vision without lenses isn't so different from what a patient without a natural lens would see (whose retina is otherwise working). I can tell you that without contacts or glasses, although everything is EXTREMELY blurry, I can still 'see' and perceive light.
If her retina is working and her optic nerve and eye are otherwise healthy, I agree with Softwaredeveloper that, although her eye may not be able to receive an internal lens like a cataract patient would get, she should be able to try a contact lens on the surface of her eye to see if it brings things into focus.
There are contacts which can be implanted under the front surface of the eye for patients who can't tolerate a lens on the front of their eye and who can't wear glasses, but it's not as simple as popping on a contact lens. Before a doctor did surgery to implant such a lens, he/she would first want to make sure your granddaughter could see if such a lens was put in.
I hope your granddaughter's optometrist or doctor can explain to her why her natural lens was removed, and determine if her eye is otherwise healthy such that a corrective lens would allow her to see with that eye.
If her retina is functional, when your granddaughter covers her good eye she should still be able to perceive light in the eye from which the lens was removed, I don't know if it is possible (as achillea describes) for her brain to be totally ignoring signals from that eye simply because they have always been out of focus. A specialist could evaluate her to see if it's the case that her brain has just been 'trained' to ignore feedback from that eye.
If she has no light perception in that eye because her retina or optic nerve are not functional, then implanting a lens will not restore her vision, similar to a camera with no film inside.
FYI the natural lens inside the human eye provides a strong degree of correction (something like 20 diopters or so). Personally I need 14 diopters of correction to my vision, so my vision without lenses isn't so different from what a patient without a natural lens would see (whose retina is otherwise working). I can tell you that without contacts or glasses, although everything is EXTREMELY blurry, I can still 'see' and perceive light.
If her retina is working and her optic nerve and eye are otherwise healthy, I agree with Softwaredeveloper that, although her eye may not be able to receive an internal lens like a cataract patient would get, she should be able to try a contact lens on the surface of her eye to see if it brings things into focus.
There are contacts which can be implanted under the front surface of the eye for patients who can't tolerate a lens on the front of their eye and who can't wear glasses, but it's not as simple as popping on a contact lens. Before a doctor did surgery to implant such a lens, he/she would first want to make sure your granddaughter could see if such a lens was put in.
I hope your granddaughter's optometrist or doctor can explain to her why her natural lens was removed, and determine if her eye is otherwise healthy such that a corrective lens would allow her to see with that eye.
The funny thing is that we 'learn' to see. If you read accounts of kids with so-called 'lazy eye,' if the condition is not corrected by eye patching, etc, to force the weak eye to work, the brain decides that only information from the good eye is worthwhile, and it shuts down input that conflicts with that.
The usual result is that the bad eye becomes functionally blind, even though the nerves and the retina are otherwise normal and potentially useful.
A lot would depend on your granddaughter's current age and the health of her retina.
This is a good question, and one you should ask about.
The usual result is that the bad eye becomes functionally blind, even though the nerves and the retina are otherwise normal and potentially useful.
A lot would depend on your granddaughter's current age and the health of her retina.
This is a good question, and one you should ask about.
The usual reason for removal of a lens is due to a cataract. I don't know if she is from a very poor area, since in developed countries the last couple of decades the standard of care has been to implant an artificial lens at the time of surgery. In poor areas of the world, or further back in time in the US, they would remove the lens but then the patient would still be able to see to some extent using very high powered glasses (or more likely a contact lens in the case of only one eye being treated, glasses are often not workable if one eye lacks a lens since the powers for each eye would be too different and cause trouble).
If they expected a patient to be blind after removing the lens, they wouldn't bother removing it. That suggests that they expected her to be able to see with some vision correction. The question is why she can't, why she is blind in that eye.
If you merely mean she is blind in that eye without a contact lens, if there is no other eye health issue, then it seems very likely they could implant an artificial lens now. The choice of lenses may be limited, I am guessing that the capsular bag wouldn't be in any condition to be an option now (which is where most lenses are designed to go), but there are lenses that will work when placed outside the capsular bag.
If they expected a patient to be blind after removing the lens, they wouldn't bother removing it. That suggests that they expected her to be able to see with some vision correction. The question is why she can't, why she is blind in that eye.
If you merely mean she is blind in that eye without a contact lens, if there is no other eye health issue, then it seems very likely they could implant an artificial lens now. The choice of lenses may be limited, I am guessing that the capsular bag wouldn't be in any condition to be an option now (which is where most lenses are designed to go), but there are lenses that will work when placed outside the capsular bag.
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