Retinitis Pigmentosa

Maintenance and restoration of functions of the eye, being one of the main sense organs, is among vital issues of modern medicine. 80% of information about environment people get by visual perception. Most of the professional and everyday activities have to do with visual functions, their slackening or loss has the utmost negative effect on the quality of life.

In the structure of the eye retina (nervous tunic of the eyeball) is one of the thinnest layers, being the most complex and highly differentiated tissue. Its complex structure makes it sensitive to light, allowing to perceive color and images and to convert them into a signal being sent straight to the brain. Position of the retina behind other optic structures, direct ingress of sun rays, peculiarities of the blood supply make it vulnerable to both external (sun rays, light striking, radiation) and internal factors. Retina is as a rule damaged in case of the following diseases:  hypertension, diabetes mellitus, renal insufficiency etc. It should be noted that any damage of the retina can lead to the impaired vision or even to complete blindness.

Among the most frequent retinal diseases there are age-related macular degeneration, hereditary retinal degenerations (including retinitis pigmentosa), complicated myopia, diabetic retinopathy. Modern methods of treatment based on the application of the known pharmaceutical substances do not lead to significant results. Usually a prognosis for a disease in these patients is unfavorable (gradual and progressive decrease in the visual functions up to blindness).