About 7 million people in the United States have impaired vision, making vision loss one of the most common disabilities among American adults, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports. The CDC also warns that early detection and treatment are key in stopping the progression of vision loss—but a new treatment method could change that. A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have found a cure for a common kind of vision loss that is effective in patients of all ages.

In their study, published in the journal Cell Reports in November, the MIT team tested whether anesthetizing a faulty retina could “reboot” vision, according to researchers—and it actually worked. According to co-author of the study Mike Bear, PhD, their recent findings could reshape the way we think about vision loss.

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The study focused on a particular kind of vision impairment called amblyopia—more commonly known as the lazy eye. Amblyopia typically starts in childhood when another underlying condition causes communication to break down between the eyes and the brain. In patients with amblyopia, the brain gradually becomes dependent on the “good” eye, causing vision in the unused eye to decline.

Typical treatments include eye drops, eye patches, or even surgery if an underlying condition is causing the amblyopia. However, these methods aren’t always successful, especially if the patients are inconsistent with topical treatments or have already reached adulthood.

The team’s new experimental treatment offers a different approach—one that doesn’t require patients to remember daily medication. In the study, the researchers anesthetized the retinas in mice’s lazy eyes with a chemical called tetrodotoxin, which some spiny species like pufferfish and porcupines naturally carry. After the treatment disabled the eyes for two days, researchers saw restored visual responses in the mice’s visual cortexes, the area of the brain which processes information from the eyes. In other words, the bad eye, “could be inactivated and ‘brought back to life,’” Bear explains in a press release, meaning the researchers found what is essentially a biological reset button

Bear’s lab has been studying amblyopia for decades, and in that time, they’ve come up with some hypotheses for why certain treatment methods—including the one used in their most recent study—might work. For example, back in 2008, the lab discovered that blocking the retina from sending signals to the nerves made those nerves send “bursts” of electrical pulses to the visual cortex. These patterns are similar to those that occur before birth and guide development. In the recent study, the researchers genetically blocked the T-type channel needed for these bursts to fire. Sure enough, they found that the anesthetizing treatment was no longer effective.

The recent study builds on previous work from Bear and his colleagues, too. For instance, in 2016, one study found that anesthetizing both retinas could restore vision loss from amblyopia. However, this treatment wasn’t ideal, because it resulted in temporary vision loss in both eyes. In 2021, another study showed that disabling just the stronger eye could also treat the condition. To Bear, the most recent evidence from the *Cell Reports *study is an encouraging, “substantial step forward,” because, unlike the preceding research, it suggests that patients with amblyopia can recover without affecting the vision in their good eye.

Bears says in an email that the next step for the team’s research is to recreate the experiment on other species with more advanced visual systems, as the treatment method is invasive and human eyes are complex. In fact, our eyes are one of the most complicated organs in our body, with more than two million working parts. Should the recent findings appear in studies of other species, Bear hopes the new treatment method will move to clinical trials in the future. In the meantime, the team is continuing to use mice to better understand why exactly the tetrodotoxin treatment works.

The researchers write that they’re “cautiously optimistic that these findings may lead to a new treatment” for patients with amblyopia in the future.

Emma Frederickson graduated from Pace University where she studied communication and media. Prior to her time as an editor, she was a freelance science reporter. She enjoys covering everything from shipwrecks to pimple popping, but her favorite topics include climate change, conspiracy theories, and weird biology. When she’s not writing, Emma can be found hopping between coffee shops on the hunt for the world’s best oat milk cappuccino.