A 42-year-old U.K. man is able to see again for the first time in 12 years, thanks to one of his teeth.
Martin Jones underwent a procedure that uses a segment of tooth as a holder for a new lens grafted from his skin, according to a story in the Daily Mail. During the procedure, a minute section of the tooth is removed, reshaped, and chiseled through to grip the man-made lens. A patch of skin is then taken from the inside of the cheek and placed in the eye for two months, where it gradually acquires its own blood supply.
The tooth segment is then transplanted into the eye socket. The flap of grafted skin is partially lifted from the eye and placed over its new base. Finally, a hole is cut in the grafted cornea to allow light to pass through.
The procedure, pioneered by Christopher Lui, a corneal specialist and surgeon based at Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton and president of the British Society for Refractive Surgery, has been performed fewer than 50 times in the U.K., according to the story.
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