SCIENTISTS yesterday hailed a major breakthrough in treating the most common form of sight loss after two patients miraculously regained their vision.

Douglas Waters, 86, and an unnamed woman in her early 60s were suffering from age-related macular degeneration.

It is a condition that leads to a rapid loss of central vision and affects more than 600,000 people in Britain.

But after undergoing the ground-breaking clinical trial - where each received a new stem cell-based treatment during an hour-long operation - they were amazed by the staggering results.

Mr Waters, from Croydon, south London, who developed the condition in his right eye three years ago, said: "In the months before the operation my sight was really poor and I couldn't see anything out of my right eye. I was struggling to see things clearly, even when up close.