A Tooth For An Eye
This is flat out amazing. An Irishman blinded in an accident in 2005 has had a portion of his sight restored when doctors installed - believe it or not - part of his son's tooth into one damaged eye. No, I am not making this up.
Bob McNichol, 57, from County Mayo in the west of the country, lost his sight in a freak accident when red-hot liquid aluminium exploded at a re-cycling business in November 2005.
"I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life," McNichol told RTE state radio.
After doctors in Ireland said there was nothing more they could do, McNichol heard about a miracle operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed by Dr Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton in England.
The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone.
The procedure used on McNichol involved his son Robert, 23, donating a tooth, its root and part of the jaw.
McNichol's right eye socket was rebuilt, part of the tooth inserted and a lens inserted in a hole drilled in the tooth.
The treatment has restored enough of McNichol's vision for him to be able to get around and to watch television. There have not been very many of these operations and the treatment is considered experimental. I had never even heard of this before reading this article.
By Lars Walker, Wednesday, 27 February , 2008 @ 1:56 pm
I think I saw an article about an early operation of this type, years ago. I was happy for the guy who got some sight, but the finished product was kind of creepy. He had his eyelid sewed shut, with a little tube with a lens in it sticking out.
By NortonPete, Wednesday, 27 February , 2008 @ 8:46 pm
From one Irishman to another, this is too Irish. Sorrry.