After having lost his eyesight more than 20 years ago at the age of 13 due to a severe allergic reaction to ibuprofen, Brent Chapman of North Vancouver, Canada, has regained vision in one eye after undergoing a rare “tooth-in-eye” surgery. Following years of unsuccessful treatments, he was connected with Dr. Greg Moloney, an ophthalmologist at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver, who recommended the uncommon procedure.
The surgery, which was developed in the 60s and only ever performed on a few hundred people worldwide, involved removing one of Chapman’s teeth, flattening it, and drilling a hole to insert a prosthetic lens. The modified tooth was then implanted at the front of his right eye, allowing him to see through the new lens. Moloney explains that using the patient’s own tooth lowers the risk of rejection.
Chapman describes the surgery as “science fictiony” but says immediately after waking from the surgery, he could see his hands moving and he later achieved 20/40 or 20/30 vision in the treated eye. “Vision comes back, and it’s a whole new world,” he says, adding that he became emotional when he first made eye contact with Dr. Moloney. “We both just burst into tears,” he says, “I hadn’t really made eye contact in 20 years.”
Source: PEOPLE
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