Reviewed by: Pat Byington
Homewood resident finds new vision through groundbreaking stem cell trial
Reading time: 4 minutes
A Homewood man is at the center of a medical milestone that is redefining the treatment of traumatic blindness. Phil Durst, a 54-year-old former chemical company manager, has transitioned from a life of “indescribable pain” and total darkness to regaining his independence through an experimental stem cell procedure.
The accident + ‘indescribable pain’
In 2017, while at Johnny’s Restaurant in Homewood, Durst was hit in the face with commercial detergent containing sodium hydroxide after a hose popped off an industrial dishwasher, according to the Associated Press. The chemical burn caused “the most indescribable pain” he had ever felt and left him unable to see at all out of his left eye.
The injury resulted in “limbal stem cell deficiency,” a condition in which the eye lacks the vital cells needed to replenish and maintain the cornea’s outermost layer. This led to a grueling recovery process, National Geographic reported.
Durst suffered from “cluster headaches” that felt like a carpenter driving a nail into his skull, and in the weeks following the injury, he was forced to lie in a dark room because he could not tolerate light. For months, his wife or son had to lead him around because his overall vision was so poor.
A ‘work of art’
Durst was the first patient in a U.S. clinical trial led by Dr. Ula Jurkunas at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. As reported in the journal Science Advances, the procedure aims to treat severe injuries in one eye by harvesting healthy stem cells from the patient’s other eye.
The entire process involves:
- Biopsy: Surgeons cut a small sample of limbal epithelial cells from the less-injured eye
- Cultivation: The cells are grown in a laboratory for about two weeks until they form a “mat” the size of a penny
- Transplant: The stem-cell mat is sewn over the damaged cornea using sutures as fine as human hair
- Corneal graft: Because Durst’s cornea was too damaged for stem cells alone to repair, the procedure also involved a transplant from a deceased donor
Dr. Jurkunas told the Associated Press that “the great part of it is that we’re using a patient’s own tissue,” which prevents the body from rejecting the transplant.
Life after surgery
The results of the early-stage research show a success rate of nearly 90% for eyes staying healed after two years.
For Durst, the procedure was life-changing. He told National Geographic his vision in the left eye is like looking through “muddy water,” but the debilitating pain that once defined his life is gone. He has regained significant function, and his mental health has improved:
- He can now see well enough to drive a car
- He can make out buildings and read text — for example, on a soda can — when held six inches from his face
- As his pain subsided, his sense of self-reliance returned
The future of the treatment
Dr. Jurkunas believes these cornea repairs are just the beginning, according to National Geographic, suggesting the concept could eventually be used for other layers of the eye, such as the retina.
Durst is no longer able to read for pleasure, he told National Geographic. Instead, he reads “for purpose as opposed to joy” due to eye fatigue. Nevertheless, he remains a vocal advocate for the trial. He hopes that within the next several years, this procedure “will be in every major eye clinic in the world”
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