Brent Chapman, Patient who regained sight: Seeing the 1skyline, yeah, get the 2differentiating buildings.
CNN Narrator: He's one of just a few patients in the world to 3undergo a procedure known as 4tooth-in-eye surgery.
Dr. Greg Moloney, Clinical Associate Professor of Corneal Surgery, UBC: Tooth-in-eye is probably the simplest way to describe it, but the full name is Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis, or OOKP.
CNN Narrator: It's a 5procedure for when people have damage to the front of their eye or the 6cornea, and you may never have heard of it because it's only used in very 7rare 8circumstances, when other options have failed.
Dr. Greg Moloney: Much like replacing a broken 9windscreen on a car. This is just to 10restore a clear view into the back of the eye.
CNN Narrator: Here's how it works the patient's own tooth: the 11canine or eye tooth, 12coincidentally, is 13extracted. It's then formed into a rectangular shape, and a plastic lens is fitted into it. The tooth is then 14sewn into the patient's cheek for long enough that 15connective tissuegrows around it, which is then used to help fix the tooth over the eye, holding the new lens 16in place. The result is this pink-looking eye with a small black circle in the middle. So, why a tooth?
Dr. Greg Moloney: As it 17turns out, the tooth is a really ideal structure for holding a focusing element in place. It's hard, it's rigid, it survives in poor environments and the body accepts it because it's part of its own, because it¡¯s part of you.
Brent Chapman: I think at first I'm like, like most people, it seems kind of 18science fictiony and out there.
CNN Narrator: It may have sounded out there, but after losing most of his sight when he was 13 years old and going through almost 50 surgeries trying to regain it, Chapman 19was willing to 20give it a try.
Brent Chapman: This sort of 21opened a new door for me and a new chapter in my life.
CNN Narrator: And the results? Well, 22seeing it is believing it for Chapman.
Brent Chapman: Little things like eye contact are just, I think, things that people 23take for granted. It's very, very powerful and you have that human connection again, visually. And you're like, wow, we actually 24pulled this off.








