Blind man's sight restored after tooth implanted in eye

A blind British man has had his eyesight restored after a surgeon implanted one of his teeth into his eye.

Father-of -two Ian Tibbetts, who damaged his eye in an industrial accident, was able to see his twin sons, Callum and Ryan, for the first time, a moment he describes as "ecstasy", News.com.au reported.

Ophthalmic surgeon, Christopher Liu from the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton, Sussex, conducted the procedure, called osteo-odonto-keratoprothesis, or OOKP, which is a two-part surgery.

In the first part, the tooth and part of the jaw are removed, and a lens is inserted into the tooth using a drill. The tooth and lens are then implanted under the eye socket.

The second step comes after a few months, once the tooth has grown tissues and developed a blood supply. In this part of the cornea is sliced open and removed and the tooth is stitched into the eye socket. Since the tooth is the patient's own tissue, the body does not reject it.

Tibbetts' vision is now about 40 per cent, and his new eye is pink in colour, with a black pupil.

The radical operation is chronicled in the new BBC documentary 'The Day I Got My Sight Back'.