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EYE DOCTORS WERE stunned this week as scientists revealed they had discovered a whole new layer of the cornea, the clear window at the front of the human eye.
Lead researcher at the University of Nottingham Professor Harminder Dua said the major discovery will mean “ophthalmology textbooks will literally need to be re-written”.
The advance, details of which were published in the latest edition of Ophthalmology, could prove invaluable to surgeons working towards better outcomes for patients undergoing transplants and grafts. It may also lead to new treatments for a number of diseases, including acute hydrops, Descematocele and pre-Descemet’s dystrophies.
“Having identified this new and distinct layer deep in the tissue of the cornea, we can now exploit its presence to make operations much safer and simpler for patients,” explained Dua.
From a clinical perspective, there are many diseases that affect the back of the cornea which clinicians across the world are already beginning to relate to the presence, absence or tear in this layer.
Previous teachings identified just five layers of the cornea. This previously undetected one is located at the back, between the corneal stroma and Descemet’s membrane, according to Science Daily.
The existence of the layer was proved by simulating human corneal transplants and grafts on eyes donated for research purposes to eye banks located in Bristol and Manchester. During the surgery, bubbles of air were injected into the cornea to separate the layers. The individual layers were then studied using electron microscopy so they were many thousand times their actual size.
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No one saw this coming.
That’s so cornea
Eye don’t believe it…
Eye see what you’re saying.
sure it was staring them in the face
Everyone who reads this article is gonna have the “I didn’t see that one coming” line in there heads and will scroll down like the wind with a goofy smile on there face ready to post only to see Vincent the fast thumbed fecker got there before all of us
I was gonna give it a skip…. So feckin cheesy :-)
Don’t be modest Vincent it was feckin genius
Call me a comedy pupil then…
Hmmm. So they’ve been carrying out laser eye surgery for years and now they discover that they didn’t know all about the eyes they’ve been operating on?
They’ve carried out brain surgery for decades and freely admit that they know feck all about the brain? These advancements will just make surgery better.
Niall you are right. they should cease all surgeries immediately until they know Everything about Everything . can you wait a while?
Niall just asked a question, what is your point Patricia? He said nothing of the sort.
I think it’s great that modern medicine can achieve great outcomes while we still remain so ignorant about how parts of the body work. If this means we achieve more successful cornea transplants, so much the better!
They, they, they. It’s always ‘their’ problem. What did you ever discover? You’re probably one of the drones who voted for Bono as the greatest ever irish person while the man who invented the field of chemistry didn’t even make the list.
Laser eye surgery is a front of eye treatment. This discovery will not affect how laser surgery is carried out. :-)
Mathew
While I agree with the second part of your post, I am puzzled why you are asking whats my point in the first part. He seemed to be saying that no surgery should be done because there are still discoveries to be made. By that logic there would never be any life saving heart surgery, or surgery of any other kind simply because there are always new discoveries to be made. Thats my point.
Absolutely, for Christs sakes they haven’t even located the ‘beer goggle’ layer yet we all know its there.
To say nothing of the apple..
“The individual layers were then studied using electron microscopy so they were many thousand times their actual size”. Not exactly great English, lads?!?
The human body is such an amazing machine, there’s so much unknown about it.
This discovery is to prove that the wonders/ knowledge of GOD is inexhaustible .
Getting pretty exhausting on this website Bello.
One in the eye for the unbelievers Bello….
eye eye eye
Hmmm. I see. Now you tell us.
Eye see what ya mean
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