Miracle eye surgery to bring patients sight back

A trio of Canadians are on track to become the country’s first residents to have their eyesight restored thanks in part to their teeth. Osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis, more commonly known as “tooth-in-eye” surgery, involves harvesting the body’s strongest natural substance to craft a specialized lens implant for patients with severe corneal blindness from conjunctival scarring. Tooth-in-eye surgery remains a comparatively rare procedure even 60 years after its development, but advocates hope the newest success stories can help popularize the treatment option for some of the most difficult cases of blindness.

Pioneered by Italian ophthalmologist Benedetto Strampelli in the early 1960s, tooth-in-eye surgery is intended to minimize the risk of a patient’s body rejecting a foreign implant by mostly relying on its own biological material. Surgeons first extract a tooth (usually a canine), then shave it down to form a rectangular layer called a longitudinal lamina that includes a hole drilled in its center.

March 8, 2025 | 5:10 am