NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, March 16, 2017, 2:21 PM

Three elderly women afraid of losing their vision were blinded after having their own fat and blood cells injected into their eyes at a Miami stem cell clinic.

The patients incorrectly believed the treatment was part of a federally monitored clinical trial, but in reality received an injection that hasnt been proven effective nor tested for safety in people, CBS News reported.

Each of them had working vision aside from some blurriness prior to the procedure. After though, one of the women was left completely blind while the other two are now legally blind.

It seems unlikely their vision will improve, said ophthalmologist Dr. Thomas Albini, who examined the patients following their treatment. He and his colleagues described the outcome of the procedure in Thursdays New England Journal of Medicine.

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The group of women, in their 70s and 80s, in 2015 paid $5,000 to be treated for age-related macular degeneration one of the top causes of vision loss in people over the age of 50. At least two of the women showed up at the clinic because it specifically listed a macular degeneration study on a federal database, a listing the clinic later withdrew.

The consent form one woman showed Albini listed the treatment as a medical procedure rather than a study, the ophthalmologist told CBS.

Each of the patients were reportedly injected in both eyes with a mixture of cells derived from their own fat tissue.

Its very alarming to us as clinicians that somebody would do this to both eyes at the same time, Albini said, adding all three women suffered from detached retinas.

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Scientists have long studied similar procedures including taking stem cells from a patients body as a cure for vision problems, among other ailments and diseases.

Medical professionals and scientists have issued strong warnings against clinics doling out unproven stem cell treatments. Because these clinicians use the patients own stem cells, theyre minimally regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

This report joins a small but growing medical literature highlighting the risks of such wanton misapplication of cellular therapy, stem cell expert Dr. George Daley wrote in an editorial accompanying a report on the procedure in question.

An attorney who represented two of the three women in lawsuits regarding the treatment said both cases have been resolved, but did not provide additional details.

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Three women blinded after Florida stem cell clinic injected fat cells into their eyes - New York Daily News