Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients typically become blind after a period of years in which their eye sight slowly deteriorates due to photoreceptor degeneration. Generally RP patients develop night-blindness first, then tunnel vision, after which finally the central eye sight diminishes leaving them with basically no eye sight, bar some crude light perception. The [wiki page on RP][1] has more information when needed. Typically, the process from diagnosis of RP to (near) complete loss of eye sight takes years to decades.

Now I am reading this report by [Chebat et al. (2007)][2], where the authors say that they have a group of congenital blind subjects, out of which one has RP (table 1). Is anyone familiar with **newborns blinded by the effects of RP**?
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**Reference**  
[Chebat et al. *Neuroreport* 2007;**18**:1901-4][2]

[DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3282f2a63][3]


  [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinitis_pigmentosa
  [2]: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ron_Kupers/publication/5840241_Tactile-'visual'_acuity_of_the_tongue_in_early_blind_individuals/links/0c96052e83143d4bad000000.pdf
  [3]: http://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0b013e3282f2a63