Recovery from blindness

Acquired vision is the phenomenon of a blind person gaining the ability to see, usually as a result of medical treatment.

Medical

The first known case of acquired vision is in 1728, of a blind 13 year old boy by William Cheselden. In 1960, Maurice von Senden restored vision to 65 patients with congenital cataracts.

More recently, another condition called aniridia has been treated using the amniotic sac that surrounds a fetus.

As a thought experiment

Examples and case studies

Michael G. May

Michael G. May had a stem-cell transplant in his right eye in 2001 when he was 43, after 40 years of blindness. He reportedly has adapted well to his recovered vision.

May still has no intuitive grasp of depth perception. As people walk away from him, he perceives them as literally shrinking in size
problems distinguishing male from female faces, and recognizing emotional expressions on unfamiliar faces.

Virgil

In his book, An Anthropologist On Mars (1995), neurologist Oliver Sacks recounts the story of Virgil, a man who saw very little until having cataract surgery at age 50. Virgil's subsequent behavior was that of a "mentally blind" person —someone who sees but can't decipher what's out there; he would act as if he were still blind. Often confused, Virgil rapidly sank into depression. About 4 months after his surgery, he died of pneumonia. [1]

Misc

There is a biblical description of this phenomenon. In Mark 8:22–26, a blind man reports after an initial healing touch by Jesus that he sees people, but they look like "walking trees." After a second healing touch, the man sees everything "clearly."[2]

References

Hothersall, David. History of Psycology. mcgraw hill, 2004.