Treatments for Retinitis Pigmentosa

This chapter serves as an introduction to treatment of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). From an historical perspective, it was once thought that limited light exposure might slow the progression of RP, but no effect was found. Likewise, there was no benefit of an increased intake of vitamin A, although vitamin E intake was found to be deleterious. At the present time, the only FDA approved treatment is Luxturna® (voretigene neparvovec) for a small sub-population of patients that have the RPE65 mutation, which represents 0.3–1% of total RP cases. A potential treatment for RP is the use of optogenetics to control neuron activity with light.