ABSTRACT
Chemical burns of the eye, if they destroy the limbal stem cells, can lead to a very nasty condition of inflammation, pain and loss of vision. The limbus can be restored by grafts from the healthy eye to the affected one. This requires large transfers of limbal tissue from the healthy eye. But limbal stem cells belong to the same family as epidermal keratinocytes and can therefore be cultivated in the same way, starting with a tiny biopsy. This was first shown in the laboratory of J. Rheinwald. In two patients suffering from alkali burns of a single eye they took a 1–2 mm biopsy from the limbal region of the healthy eye, grew the cells in culture, prepared a graft and applied it to the suitably prepared injured eye. In both patients, the results were the formation of a clear corneal epithelium, no neovascularization and great increase in visual acuity, over a follow-up period of two years.
