Tooth in Eye Surgery Success
A blind woman’s site was restored by placing a plastic lens into one of her teeth, then implementing them into the eye. This is the first time in U.S. history that tooth and and eye surgery was performed successfully. The patient was a 60-year-old woman who could not see for 9 years. She now has 20/70 vision, and that might even improve as she recovers from surgery, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, part of the University of Miami’s medical school, where the surgeries were conducted.
According to the Miami Herald, this procedure was invented in Italy in 1963 and has been done in Japan and Europe successfully. The procedure is a last-ditch procedure for people with cornea problems – where normally the lens would sit – because of trauma, scarring or corneal disease, but whose structures beneath the cornea and optic nerve are still healthy.
The tooth that was selected for tooth and eye surgery is called an eyetooth (an upper jaw canine tooth). This particular tooth was selected because it had a good amount of ligament and jawbone attached, which are detrimental for the tooth to heal in the eye after implementation, states the Herald.
Victor Perez, a cornea specialist at Bascom told the Miami Herald, “If there isn’t any infection, I’m optimistic we can preserve at least 20/70 vision for the next 10 years.”
