MD Stem Cells and Al-Zahra Hospital in Dubai help Middle East patients gain vision using Bone Marrow Fraction Treatment-scheduling for September 2016

DUBAI, UAE , June 15, 2016 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Blindness from hereditary retinal conditions is all too common. Patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa, Cone Dystrophy, Cone-Rod Dystrophy, Stargardts and other conditions are often told by their eye doctors that no treatment is available. Now at Al-Zahra Hospital in Dubai, and in conjunction with the doctors at MD Stem Cells, patients are receiving the latest treatment that can potentially reverse some of their blindness and improve their lives.
“Bone Marrow Fraction Treatment or BMFT uses the patient’s own bone marrow to treat many different retinal and optic nerve diseases at the Al-Zahra hospital in Dubai,” notes Dr. Jeffrey Weiss, the United States Retinal Ophthalmologist and Stem Cell Surgeon who is also on staff at Al-Zahra Hospital. The BMFT procedure has been reviewed and approved by the Dubai Health Authority. This is the same treatment that is being provided in the United States under the Stem Cell Ophthalmology Treatment Study (SCOTS) supervised by MD Stem Cells since 2013 and which has treated over 600 eyes.
Recently a patient in the United States with a hereditary retinal dystrophy had very poor vision- only able to see her hand move in front of her face (Hand Motion vision), nothing on the eye chart and almost no color vision. She had been unable to see people’s faces or anything meaningful for many years. She was treated with the BMFT procedure in SCOTS. Within several days she was able to see her daughter’s face, color of flowers and cars on the street far away. Her vision improved from Hand Motion to 20/150 or 6/45 within a few weeks. Other patients with retinal and optic nerve problems including different Macular Degenerations and Optic Neuropathies have seen similar improvements to their vision, although predicting if there will be an improvement for an individual patient is not yet possible.
Soon after her treatment she became aware that her Stem Cell Surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Weiss, was going back to Dubai to treat patients including several children. She wrote to MD Stem Cells and to Dr. Weiss: “I prayed for you several times this week as you were out of the country performing surgeries on some children who are blind. I am sure that you made an amazing difference in their lives as you did mine.”
Dr. Weiss notes: “We have seen meaningful improvements in patients with otherwise intractable vision loss following this treatment. Conditions eligible for treatment include retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), myopic macular degeneration, hereditary retinopathies such as Retinitis Pigmentosa, Cone Dystrophy, Stargardts, as well as selected inflammatory, vascular and traumatic conditions. Optic nerve diseases considered eligible include glaucoma, ischemic optic neuropathy, optic atrophy, optic neuritis, Lebers , NMO or Devic’s syndrome and some trauma.”
Patients interested in scheduling treatment in Dubai or local physicians may contact MD Stem Cells by email- info@mdstemcells.com , by phone (001) 203-423-9494 or by visiting the website www.mdstemcells.com and using the Contact Us page. Next treatments at Al-Zahra Hospital are being scheduled for September 4 and 5, 2016. Patients must seek an evaluation as early as possible so that the treatment can be arranged ahead of time. They may also contact Jenny Anil, Clinical Affairs Manager at Al-Zahra Hospital, at jenny.anil@zahd.ae for a referral.

(001) 203-423-9494
email us here
MD Stem Cells
Dubai, UAE