There’s something in my eye…

…like my tooth.

Seriously, file this under WTF?

A woman who’s been blind for 9 years is now able to see with one eye after her doctors inserted her tooth into an eye socket. Nope, this isn’t science fiction (although, yeah, The Corinthian comes to mind) but like, something that happened over Labor Day.

The woman suffered from damaged corneas but was able to regain her sight after a procedure in which surgeons removed one of her teeth, drilled a hole in it, inserted a lens and used it as a living scaffold.

The procedure took over six months and the steps were pretty, uh, eye-opening (bad pun is bad):

• The woman’s doctors took her eyetooth (seriously, I did not make that up), shaved it flat and drilled a hole in it
• An acrylic lens was inserted in the hole
• It was then implanted under in the skin in the woman’s cheek with the intention to leave it there for a few months so that the combination could *grow* together
• The woman developed an infection so the tooth had to be removed
• It was implanted in a pouch in her upper chest
• After a month, a patch of skin was removed from the inside of the woman’s cheek and placed over her cornea
• Two months later, the tooth/lens combo was inserted into the woman’s eye

It’s much more involved than I described it but yeah. Bottom line: the woman can see through her tooth.

The best part is the quote from one her doctors:

For now, he won't try to fix Thornton's other eye.

``We're keeping it as a spare tire. If something goes wrong with the first eye, we can do the other. That way she will always have a chance at vision -- as long as she takes care of her teeth.''

Ain’t science grand?

Comments

[Emil]

This is seriously creepy... yay for her I guess.

[Katie Page]

I LOVE that they used her eye tooth for this procedure.

I'm filing this one under "why I am in awe of modern medicine".