Prior to her July surgery, Sue Freeman, age 78, could not walk, shop, or cook alone due to macular degeneration, a disease that affects millions of Americans and with no treatment currently available.  After the injection of embryos in one of her eyes, Sue can shop, cook, walk, and even read all on her own.

The second patient, a 51-year-old woman who wished to remain anonymous, claimed she first noticed a change a few weeks after the surgery.  She looked at an armoire across the bedroom and noticed, "It has a lot of detailed carvings and I thought wow, I was missing those before”.  This anonymous patient could not read the extra-large letters on the eye chart designed for people with vision problems prior to her surgery.  Her vision was so bad prior to the surgery the patient was unable to see how fingers an examiner held up in front of her face.  After the surgery, she can now identify the number of fingers being held up in front of her face and read five of the letters on the eye examine chart.  In the Lancet’s commentary section, Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative, cautioned that the report was preliminary, with a small sample size, and a short term follow up, but stated, “the results are impressive, especially considering the progressive nature of both diseases.”