Blind man got his sight back after having a tooth implanted into his eye.

Martin Jones, a 42-year-old builder, was left blind
after an accident at work more than a decade
ago. But a remarkable operation - which implants

part of his tooth in his eye - has pierced his
world of darkness. The procedure, performed
fewer than 50 times before in Britain, uses the segment of tooth as a holder for a new lens
grafted from his skin. He lost his sight after a tub of white hot
aluminium exploded in his face at work in a
scrapyard. He suffered 37 per cent burns and had
to wear a special body stocking for 23 hours a
day. He also had his left eye removed. But
surgeons were able to save the right eye, even though he was unable to see through it. At first
specialists in Nottingham tried to save his sight
using stem cells from a donor but the attempt
failed. It was only when a revolutionary new operation
was pioneered at the Sussex Eye Clinic in
Brighton that he was given a chance to have his
sight back. During the procedure, a minute
section of a patient's tooth is removed, reshaped
and chiselled through to grip the man-made lens which is then placed in its core. It is implanted
under an eyelid where it becomes covered in
tissue. The process requires a living tooth as an implant
because doctors suggest there are chances the
eye would reject a plastic equivalent. So a canine
- which is the best option due to its shape and
size - was taken out of Mr Jones' mouth. 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 finally transplanted into the eye
socket. The flap of grafted skin is then partially
lifted from the eye and placed over its new
sturdy base. Mr Jones, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was
able to see for the first time his wife Gill, 50,
whom he had married four years ago...