Environmental Graffiti

Bob McNichol, blind since a 2005 explosion in an aluminum recycling center, believed he would be blind the rest of his life after Irish doctors told him they were out of options.

Image by Sugar Pond

It was then, however, that he heard about the procedure being performed by Dr. Christopher Liu in Brighton– Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP). If memory of Latin class serves, that’s medspeak for “putting teeth into your head as fake eyes.”

The procedure, which has been around since being invented by what I presume were some heavily intoxicated Italians in the 1960s, uses the tooth to create an artificial cornea. In the case of Bob, his son, Robert, donated not just a tooth, which had a hole drilled into it to hold a lens, but also part of his jaw, which became part of the eye socket. This of course took quite a bit of time and effort–fifteen hours over two operations, which had initially been given a 65% chance of success. Bob, however, has gained a good portion of his sight back.

Info From Physorg.com

By new Environmental Graffiti contributor Ben Ray. Ben is a freelance writer, check him out at What’s Required