A BOURNEMOUTH man is among those hoping that a cure for the most common form of blindness in the developed world will be found within the next few years.

Southampton-based eye consultant Professor Andrew Lotery has discovered a gene that causes macular degeneration, a condition affecting one in three people over the age of 75.

The discovery, made in conjunction with five research colleagues in the USA and published in last month's New England Journal of Medicine, holds out the best prospect of preventing the disease in the future.

But now the professor is faced with the prospect of mothballing his groundbreaking work because of a lack of funding. Unless he can find £2 million over the next few months, he will have to disband his research team at the Southern Eye Research Centre in Southampton General Hospital.

"I will be forced to release half of my staff by Christmas unless the funding is found," he warned. "At a time when medical science in this country should be celebrating a major breakthrough it has become a bitter sweet moment for me."

Macular degeneration happens when the cells in the central part of the retina, the macula, become damaged. The macula enables people to see what is straight in front of them, allowing them to see fine detail for activities such as reading and seeing colour.

"The problem is that our understanding of the disease has been very limited so our treatments have been limited," explained the professor. "Finding this gene gives us, for the first time, an insight into the cause of the disease. It's a road map telling us how we get from a faulty gene to better treatments that can make a difference in the near future.

"Many genetic successes have been slow to produce effective treatment but not in this field. Human trials to cure blindness are already beginning in other gene-related conditions."

David Botterill, 59, of Northbourne, first started developing symptoms of macular degeneration when he was in his early forties. "I hadn't a clue what it was. I started off with opticians doing various tests and ended up going to the eye hospital in Westbourne," he said.

"They can do nothing for me. Of course it annoys me when I can't see. I used to read a lot. I still do read, but it's a slow process and it's frustrating. I have to move the paper around to be able to pick out all of the words."

Despite his vision problems and developing chronic fatigue syndrome two years ago, David has managed to continue his work helping people with drug and alcohol problems to get back on their feet.

David's 85-year-old mother also developed macular degeneration around 15 years ago and his two daughters are being checked to see whether they carry the rogue gene. He also has three grandchildren, with another on the way.

"I am unlikely to be able to gain anything from the research, but if my children turn out to have the same gene, I want them to have it changed so they don't end up with the disease as well," said David.

Anyone who would like to find out more about the Gift of Sight Appeal to continue the research at Southampton should contact Trudy Gough on 023 8033 3366 or see the website, www.giftofsight.org.uk.