The term retinitis pigmentosa (RP) refers to a group of hereditary diseases, all of which eventually result in severe vision loss. Some of the diseases in the RP family are Usher syndrome, Lebers congenital amaurosis, rod-cone disease, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, and Refsum disease.
Approximately 100,000 people in the U.S. have RP. Symptoms usually surface during adolescence or young adulthood, although some RP diseases are apparent even in infants. RP progresses at different rates in individuals, but most people with RP are legally blind by age 40.
| Watch a video presentation about one of the most exciting, recent breakthroughs in the possible treatment of RP: the restoration of sight in blind mice. |
Some forms of retinitis pigmentosa are associated with other disabilities, such as deafness in people with Usher syndrome.
Hope Through ResearchFindings by researchers working with the grant support of Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) lead to the discovery that RP symptoms are caused by the death of cells in the retina. The retina is a light detecting layer inside the eye that sends visual images to the brain. In most cases of RP, retinal cells called rod photoreceptors are the first to die, followed by cone photoreceptors. More... |
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Search the RPB Research Archive for more information |
