Sight Restored: A Tooth Transplant Brings Vision Back to a Blind Man

Martin Jones, 45, wasn't born blind, but a construction accident a decade ago robbed him of his sight. A hot aluminum shard exploded in his face while working in a scrapyard, leaving him with burns over 37 percent of his body and requiring him to wear a special mask for 23 hours daily.

He underwent surgery to remove his left eye, but doctors managed to save his right eye, though he still couldn't see through it. Attempts at restoring his vision with stem cell transplants failed, leaving him in darkness for ten long years.

Just when hope seemed lost, salvation came. "I heard about specialists at the Sussex Eye Clinic in Brighton who perform vision restoration surgeries for people like me, and I was intrigued," Jones recounts.

Learning that over fifty people worldwide had successfully undergone similar surgeries, he decided to take the plunge and join the 'revolution' promised by these doctors. The innovative procedure involved using a small section of his cheek's inner lining and a thin piece of his tooth, implanted beneath the eyelid where it's covered by tissue. This segment of tooth provides support as a foundation for a lens crafted by human hands.

After only a few hours in the operating room, the doctors succeeded in this complex procedure, and Mr. Jones was able to see his wife Gail, whom he married while blind six years ago, for the first time.