The procedure was supposed to treat their macular degeneration—but instead, it made them blind. The two women who lost their sight have settled their cases against a South Florida eye doctor as their experience draws national attention.

Coral Gables law firm Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen filed lawsuits on behalf of the two patients, both over age 70, who traveled to Sunrise and paid $5,000 each for what they believed was stem-cell therapy that would help with age-related vision loss. According to thecomplaints, U.S. Stem Cell Inc. injected each woman in both eyes with what it claimed were stem cells harvested by removing fat tissue from patients and processing the tissue to isolate the cells.

Instead, both women quickly ended up blind, with one of them unable even to perceive light. Their experience was highlighted March 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine after doctors at the University of Miami's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute observed the results of the injections.