READ MORE: Ingredient in erectile dysfunction and prostate drug linked to eye disease that causes blindness, study suggests See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy ALEXA LARDIERI, US HEALTH EDITOR Published: 17:11 BST, 26 August 2026 | Updated: 18:03 BST, 26 August 2026
A woman left completely blind after a car accident underwent a first-of-its-kind procedure and regained her sight.Elena, a 67-year-old woman from Italy, had lost her vision after a severe car collision. The accident damaged the optic nerve in her left eye, leaving her unable to transmit light from her eye to her brain.This disrupts communication between the eye and the brain and prevents the brain from receiving and processing visual information from the eye. The rest of the structures in her left eye were undamaged but she still went blind. Her right eye, which had already experienced damage due to macular degeneration, also suffered trauma from the accident, damaging the retina - which converts light into signals and sends those signals through the optic nerve to the brain - and the cornea - the outer surface of the eye that helps focus images.Due to the extent of the damage, a corneal transplant - which would have been the standard in similar cases - was not an option, leaving Elena also completely blind in her right eye for more than five years. However, in a world-first, surgeons at the University Eye Clinic at Molinette Hospital in Turin, Italy, successfully performed a new type of retinal transplant from Elena's left eye to her right, local outlet La Stampa reported. This resulted in Elena regaining her vision in her right eye. Elena is pictured above with her guide dog, Joe, and Professor Michele Reibaldi, who led Elena's procedure
