A team of surgeons in London have performed a pioneering human embryonic stem cell procedure, which looks to restore sight to people experiencing age-related vision loss, on a 60-year-old woman.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, underwent a successful two-hour operation at Moorfields Eye Hospital last month, which saw surgeons surgically transplant eye cells to her eyes. The eye cells, derived from stem cells, are transferred using a specially engineered patch inserted behind the retina.

The operation marks a major milestone for the decade-long research by the London Project to Cure Blindness, which was designed to restore vision in patients experiencing age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.

The experimental procedure was developed to specifically treat "wet" AMD, which results from fluid leaking into the macula, near the centre of the retina. This condition is often caused by dry AMD, brought about by the thinning of retinal pigment epithelium in the macula.

“There is real potential that people with wet age-related macular degeneration will benefit in the future from transplantation of these cells,” said Dr Lyndon Da Cruz, retinal surgeon of Moorfields Eye Hospital and co-leader of the project.

AMD is a type of vision loss where there is a distortion or absence of the central field of vision. This condition does not usually affect a person’s peripheral or side vision and does not tend to cause complete blindness. AMD, the third most important cause of blindness in the world, is expected to affect 196 million people globally by 2020, according to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. In Australia, about one in seven persons over 50 years old show signs of AMD.

The patient, whose recuperation will be monitored for a year, has experienced no complications to date. According to the medical team, they expect to determine the outcome of her initial visual recovery by December.

Nine more patients with the wet form of AMD are also scheduled to undergo the trial treatment over the next 18 months. All would have suffered a sudden loss of vision as a result of defective blood vessels in the eye. After their treatment, the patients will be monitored for a year to check that the treatment is safe and assess whether their vision improves.

According to Professor Pete Coffey of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, who is also co-leading the London Project, while they recognise that the clinical trial focuses on a small group of AMD patients who have experienced sudden severe visual loss, they hope that many patients may benefit in the future.

The team at Moorfields is collaborating with pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which is funding the trial.

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