sightedness and macular degeneration — millions of

people worldwide suffer from poor vision.

Reading fine print is almost impossible. You have to hold

the book up to your face.

Young people are increasingly affected -- around 217 million

people are visually impaired, and 36 million

are blind worldwide.

Our sense of sight plays a vital role in our lives, and

things are very difficult for people who are blind.

Modern surgical techniques are less invasive

and can help restore eyesight.

It's a quantum leap — a minor revolution.

From stem cell therapy to laser surgery — new

treatments are giving patients hope.

This residential development in the city of Mainz, Germany,

is home to Lilli, her brother Max, and their parents. 13-

year-old Lilli is an ordinary teenager - she goes to dance

class twice a week, and she likes to chat with her friends.

Lilli has been near-sighted since the fourth grade. She

has minus 4 diopters in her right eye,

minus 0-point-5 in her left one.

When Lilli takes off her glasses, the world looks like this —

even nearby objects appear blurred. And her

eyesight is continuing to deteriorate.

I see things best when they are very close, but it keeps

getting worse. When I take off my glasses, even my hand

looks blurry. Anything further away is even blurrier.

Nearsightedness - or myopia - is the result of the shape of

the eye. Normally rays of light entering the eye are refracted

so that they focus on the retina at the back of the eye.

When the eyeball is too long or the cornea too curved,

the light focuses at a point in front of the retina.

Objects that are further away appear blurred.

Our eyes are designed for distance vision. Spending a

lot of time looking at nearby objects puts strain on our

eyes. Our eyes then gradually deform so that we can see

nearby objects more easily. But then we end up not being

able to see objects at a distance as well. That's

what's called being nearsighted.

Myopia is partly hereditary. Lilli's parents

are also nearsighted.

Lilli has an appointment at the Eye Clinic in Mainz for a

thorough examination.

Norbert Pfeiffer heads the eye clinic, and is a specialist in

near-sightedness.

First comes the exam with the slit lamp.

So put your chin on the chin rest.

He first examines the ocular fundus and optic nerve in both

eyes. Near-sighted people should get a vision exam at

least once a year. Myopia can promote the development of

other serious eye disorders. It increases the risk of retinal

detachment and cataracts.

Lilli is nearsighted, at minus 4 to 5 diopters. That's fairly

nearsighted - not as much as some, but it's quite a lot. She

started out with a quarter of a diopter, when she was

about ten. That tends to increase with age,

until maybe age 18 or 20.

For Norbert Pfeiffer, Lilli is an example of how

nearsightedness is on the rise. He's investigating the cause of

this increase in a large-scale German study involving

15,000 patients. The study has been underway for 12 years.

The longer you go to school, the more near-sighted you

become. For every year you go to school, you get a bit

more near-sighted. And that goes for university degrees —

the longer you study, the more nearsighted you

become. So nearsightedness has a behavioral component.

So myopia isn't just hereditary -- our lifestyle plays a role.

Near-sightedness is linked to educational levels

and is on the rise worldwide.

In Asia, even more young people are nearsighted. In

some countries, up to 80 or 90 percent. We think one

factor might be the age at which children start school. In

some Asian countries, they start school when

they're just three or four years old.

In Taiwan, for example, myopia has reached epidemic

proportions. Up to 90 percent of schoolchildren in major

cities are nearsighted. Schools and universities are pressure

cauldrons. The workload is heavy - even more than in

Europe. Long hours of studying lead to more near-

sightedness. What many don't realize is that if myopia

remains untreated, it can even lead to blindness.

Russ Khan shrugged off his vision problems for years. A

software engineer, he was working on a new program

when he suffered a retinal detachment. He underwent

12 surgeries, but nothing helped. Russ Khan is now

blind. At one point, he contemplated suicide.

I can hear. I can move. They're always going to be

there for me. That's the love. And because of the family

bondings. They made me realize that perhaps if I'm

settled down more myself, I can do something. I can still

do something for myself and others.

Russ Khan now goes to schools to tell his story and

raise awareness about near-sightedness.

In the classroom, he tries to connect with

the children on a personal level.

Every half hour, we let our eyes have a break. How long?

Ten minutes, they reply.

And lastly, how long should you play outside every day?

Two hours!

The children are supposed to give their eyes a break from

schoolwork. But long hours hitting the books is ingrained

in Asian culture. It's an uphill battle. The WHO estimates

that half the world's population will be shortsighted

within 30 years. But simple measures

could make a difference.

The most important thing is to send children outside into

the sunlight for two hours every day. We know this is

the best way to prevent nearsightedness.

An instrument called a luxmeter is

used to measure light intensity.

You'd probably say there's plenty of light in this office,

enough to work by. But the meter is showing 102.5 lux.

That's not much light. The light is much brighter outside.

Even bright lamps are no substitute for daylight. Eyes

need sunlight — the chance to view objects at a distance.

Outside, the light intensity is 100 times higher:

I took the meter outside. Even though it's cloudy, we're

seeing 13,600 lux. That's much higher. If it were sunny

out, it would be even higher than that.

Bright sunlight can be up to 100,000 lux or more. It may

seem trivial, but daylight works wonders

against nearsightedness.

Back at the clinic, Lilli is undergoing another a vision

test. She's supposed to read the numbers off the chart.

She's asked if she can read the largest number.

Even the largest number is blurred.

Norbert Pfeiffer will continue monitoring Lilli's vision and

making sure she gets enough sunlight. It's the only way to

treat her nearsightedness and preserve her vision.

An eye clinic in Cologne, Germany, specializes

in other vision problems.

Alfred Remmert is 60 years old. He lives an hour away and

comes here for treatment. Remmert runs a company

with over two thousand employees and often travels

abroad. His vision has been deteriorating

for some time now.

This is what it looks like out the window. This is what

Alfred Remmert sees. And it's getting worse.

It's all kind of foggy. Blurry and foggy. Right now I'm still

coping but ordinary activities are getting more difficult.

Alfred Remmert has come here for a consultation with

Claus Cursiefen. He's chief physician at the clinic and a

leading expert in corneal disorders. His exam shows

that Alfred Remmert is a good candidate for surgery.

The lens and cornea are clouded. So two layers of the

eye are clouded. In one surgical procedure, we'll try

to eliminate both sources of this clouded vision. We'll

replace the lens, and transplant the

inner layer of the cornea.

The transparent cornea is part of the outer casing of the eye,

and serves as a kind of windshield. Behind it, the iris

opens and closes to control the amount of light entering

the eye. The lens focuses the incoming light to create a

sharp image on the retina. The optic nerve then transmits

that information to the brain.

Two hours later, the surgery is underway. Claus Cursiefen is

preparing the corneal transplant. The clinic has its

own eye bank - with corneas from organ donations. The

cornea does not have a direct blood supply. For that reason,

it can be removed up to 72 hours after death.

Claus Cursiefen carefully removes the edges of the cornea.

The blue contrast agent helps him guide

the delicate incisions.

The cornea is only a few thousandths of a millimeter

thick. Using a precision instrument, he removes the

inner layer of the cornea.

The delicate tissue is rolled up, and then placed on injector.

The instrument will later help him position the

cornea in the patient's eye.

The patient is wheeled into the operating room. Alfred

Remmert already under general anesthesia.

The eyelids are held open with retractors.

With three tiny incisions, the diseased inner layer

of the cornea is removed.

This is the inner, clouded layer of the cornea, which is

selectively removed. It is about ten-thousandth of a

millimeter thick. We only remove the diseased layer

here and can leave the rest of the cornea in place.

That speeds up the healing process. Just a few years ago,

the entire cornea would have been transplanted.

Then the injector is inserted into the eye and the thin

corneal layer is unraveled.

The blue-colored structure in front of the eye is the

transplant. Now we have to put it in the proper position.

Now we fill the eye with a gas. The gas bubble presses the

transplant firmly onto the back of the cornea. We don't

sew it on — it's held in place by this gas bubble.

The gas bubble pushes the transplant onto the cornea. In

order for it to attach properly, the patient will need to lie on

his back quietly for several days.

Everything goes smoothly and the surgery is a success.

Sigrid Roters helps manage the eye bank at the clinic.

Today she retrieved a donor eye from the pathology

department. The clinic in Cologne opened its

eye bank in 2000.

Sigrid Roters carefully examines the eye for any sign

of disease. Then she detaches the cornea bit by bit. Human

corneas are still used in transplants, but artificial

corneas are now under development.

The doctor places the cornea in a nutrient medium and

maintains the incubator at the perfect temperature, ready

for the next transplant surgery. Demand is high.

6,000 corneal transplants take place each year in

Germany and there are another 6,000 recipients on

the waiting list. Of course, we would like to have more

donors to meet this demand.

Five weeks after the procedure, Alfred Remmert is

back at the Cologne clinic for a checkup. Since corneas don't

have their own blood vessels, they're rarely rejected by the

recipient's immune system —

unlike with donor hearts, for example.

But he did have some difficulties at first.

I'm doing well now but the first 14 days were hard. My

eye was very sensitive, I could hardly open it. My eye

was watering and my vision was blurred. Then my other

eye started watering, too, and felt the strain. But about

ten days ago, things got a lot better.

The surgery was a complete success, and the healing

process is going well. Before the surgery, Mr. Remmert's

vision was down to about 40 percent. Now it's at 90

percent and it will continue to improve.

Alfred Remmert's vision in his right eye is

almost normal again.

The University Hospital in Bonn, Germany, focuses on

one of the most common eye conditions in the Western

world: age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.

Karin Krause-Zillich suffers from what is called wet AMD.

This is how healthy eyes see the world. This is what Karin

sees. She is almost blind in her left eye.

Wet AMD is less common than the dry form, and it

progresses more quickly. At first Karin Krause-Zillich barely

noticed the symptoms.

When I was doing my make-up and would close one eye

to do the other one, I thought, something's not right. There's