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Comment by joaomacp | Hacker News Reader

It's really amazing. I don't want to be the usual cynic HNer talking stuff down, because this seems really groundbreaking.

However, corneal transplants are already a thing, and "Within the United States, the supply of corneas is sufficient to meet the demand for surgery and research purposes."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_transplantation

Of course a synthetic cornea seems like a more scalable solution, and probably reduces costs in the long term, so this is great progress.

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It is true that corneal transplantation is a thing since decades. However, a corneal transplant, like any transplant, has its issues. Rejections can still occur, and the healing process takes a long time, usually not less than one year, involving constant adjustments. If a cost-effective synthetic inert material addresses these issues, this is immense progress.

But the GGP says

>>> How long have we been waiting for some way to regrow the tooth after a cavity?

An artificial cornea probably solves a lot of problem with rejections, but it is somewhat like filing the cavities in the teeth with whatever paste they are using.

I've read about people getting cataract surgery and ending up with UV sensitivity due to the material some older synthetic implants were made from, so I always assumed artificial corneas weren't uncommon.[1] I've actually kind of hoped I could get them some day.

Is the difference here that previous implants weren't total replacements, or something else?

[1] e.g. https://www.komar.org/faq/colorado-cataract-surgery-crystale...

I echo this sentiment. Here are the eligibility criteria: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04485858. I am not an opthalmologist, however, it appears this is an option when a transplant fails or is not indicated due to infection. It's still excellent news!

Here's a good info page on corneal blindness https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2823104/ warning made me a bit queasy

You're not being cynical, this is exactly what one should expect in HN - combing through the deeper facts and not just the superficial information.

One thing that honestly puts me off of some HN threads is the breathless "it's full of stars" comments where people take one press release and their minds go to some near-future utopia where everything is perfect and nothing hurts.

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