Science Saves Vision

“My goal is to decrease childhood blindness by treating pediatric eye disease in an innovative way,” says Bibiana Jin Reiser, MD, MS, director of the Cornea and Glaucoma Institute at CHLA. Using technology developed for adults, she is optimizing it to treat children.

“The disease process is totally different in adults and kids, and so is their anatomy,” says Reiser, who is one of the few doctors in the U.S. who treats children with cataracts. She explains that unlike adults, a baby or young child with an untreated cataract may be slowly going blind. The cloudy lens caused by a cataract blocks light from reaching the retina, impeding the ability of the retina to relay information to the brain. The eyes and brain must work together for a baby to learn to see.

Children need to see in order to learn. Since education is key to preserving the brain trust of our country, improving children’s vision needs to remain an important priority.

Unfortunately, due to proposed cuts to the federal budget, funding for medical research like Dr Reiser’s is in jeopardy.

Please contact your representative and express your support of fully funding the NIH to continue developing better and safer ways to preserve children’s vision.

Thank you for your support.