Taylor Binns experienced a slow degradation of vision through time due to complications with contact lenses. It began four years ago, where Binns described the early symptoms as intense eye pain and blurry vision. The cause of the symptoms was not then known by doctors, with Binns' vision gradually getting worse, and eventually becoming legally blind.
A Queens University student of commerce, Binns was finally diagnosed with a rare eye disease known as corneal limbal stem cell deficiency. It is essentially a disease that replaces normal, healthy cells with scar tissue, creating eye ulcers that cloud over the corneas, further explaining the intense eye pain and loss of vision.
Doctors recommended that Binns receive a new kind of procedure to rid him of the disease: a limbal stem cell transplant. Healthy limbal stem cells from a donor were Binns' best chance at regaining his vision. When in search for a matching donor for the transplant, doctors found that the ideal candidate was his younger sister, Victoria.
"Within a month he could see 20/40," says ophthalmologist Dr. Allan Slomovic. "His last visit he was 20/20 and 20/40."
Taylor Binns is now able to do the things he once did before losing his vision, and has now reportedly become interested in medicine. He is now on track to becoming a medical doctor and hopes to specialize in ophthalmology.
More on this story can read here: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/ontario-man-s-sight-restored-with-help-of-stem-cells-1.1088888
