Groundbreaking contact lens restores man's vision after 10 years of blindness

A 70-year-old man has regained his sight after a decade of blindness in one eye, thanks to a cutting-edge contact lens solution that helped him avoid major surgery.

Joseph, who lost vision in his right eye due to keratoconus - a condition that warps the eye's surface - had been told by multiple doctors that a corneal transplant was his only hope. "I'd basically accepted that I would never see properly out of that eye again," he told reporters at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

But everything changed when he met Dr. Yishai Weil, who suggested trying something different: a specially designed contact lens that could work even with Joseph's severely distorted cornea.

"What makes this case remarkable is that most doctors would have gone straight to surgery given how advanced the condition was," Dr. Weil explained. "But these new scleral lenses can sometimes work wonders - even in cases we previously thought were hopeless."

The results surprised even the medical team. Not only did Joseph regain vision in his right eye, but he can now see better with it than with his 'good' eye. "I keep forgetting to bring my glasses with me," Joseph laughed. "After ten years of seeing almost nothing, it's just incredible."

Keratoconus, while rare, typically affects younger people, making Joseph's case particularly unusual. The condition causes the eye's surface to gradually thin and bulge outward like a cone, leading to severely distorted vision that regular glasses or contacts can't fix.

The breakthrough offers hope to others with severe vision problems who might be trying to avoid surgery. "Each case is different," Dr. Weil cautioned, "but this shows us that sometimes there are alternatives to major surgery if we're willing to think outside the box."

The medical team plans to document this case to help other patients with similar conditions who might benefit from this alternative approach to treatment.

Channel 14 contributed to this article.