Medical Tooth implanted in eye restores sight

[Evo]

This is rather incredible.

An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors inserted his son's tooth in his eye, he said on Wednesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080228/ts_afp/irelandbritainhealthoffbeat

 

[turbo]

Holy cow! I wonder if stem-cell research will get us closer to rebuilding tissues without such radical procedures?

 

[Astronuc]

I read this story too! Yeah, incredible! Amazing!

 

[hypatia]

Thats just a wonderful story.

 

[Andy Resnick]

I don't get it? It's just using a tooth/donated bone to re-build an eye socket?

I've heard of techniques to re-grow an entire jaw using a bit of bone for a seed and a track.

 

[Evo]

I've heard of techniques to re-grow an entire jaw using a bit of bone for a seed and a track.

They can't see out of their jaw though.

 

[hypatia]

I wonder if they will half to brush between movies?

 

[Andy Resnick]

They can't see out of their jaw though.

(from the article):

"The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone."

I don't think the technique had anything to do with restoring lost ocular function- the patient apparently had a functional retina and lens. The surgery merely created a mechanical support for an artifical cornea. If they wanted to do something cool, they could have used titanium and made the dude look like the Terminator.

Now, this is cool:

http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/news/news.asp?offset=1650

Doctors grow new jaw in man's back

 

[Moonbear]

(from the article):

"The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone."

I don't think the technique had anything to do with restoring lost ocular function- the patient apparently had a functional retina and lens. The surgery merely created a mechanical support for an artifical cornea. If they wanted to do something cool, they could have used titanium and made the dude look like the Terminator.

Now, this is cool:

http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/news/news.asp?offset=1650

Doctors grow new jaw in man's back

That's what I was trying to figure out, and the way I was interpreting. But, it's incredibly difficult to figure out from that article alone.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There was a story like this some years ago about a man in Italy, IIRC. The kicker was that they had used the man's eye-tooth.

 

[Tsu]

There have been numerous accounts of this procedure. Here is one from 2004 done in Singapore.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/01/1091298579329.html

 

[Moonbear]

There have been numerous accounts of this procedure. Here is one from 2004 done in Singapore.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/01/1091298579329.html

Thanks! That one explains it better. So, it's more like an artificial lens/pupil with a plastic "lens" being supported by the tooth.

 

[Tsu]

Thanks! That one explains it better. So, it's more like an artificial lens/pupil with a plastic "lens" being supported by the tooth.

Pretty ingeniusly bizarre, huh?

Here's another ingeniusly bizarre trick I learned for being able to see. When I'm in the shower and not wearing my glasses, and I need to read the shampoo or conditioner bottle, I make a tiny little pinhole with my index finger and I can read almost any size writing quite clearly through the pinhole. It's quite a handy little trick - not to mention a real party-stopper at the old folks home.

 

[Evo]

I think it's fantastic that they are able to rebuild the eye socket and restore sight in cases where the retina hasn't been damaged. I can't think of any loss of sense that would be worse than loss of sight. It's a crude method, but I think it's wonderful.

 

[waht]

This procedure must have been taken from the bible.

 

[Moonbear]

This procedure must have been taken from the bible.

Nah, that would involve using a rib rather than a tooth.

Heck, even if it leaves you with really crappy visual acuity, if it's just enough to help you see shadows and let you walk around without bumping into things or falling down stairs, that would be better than nothing. I would love to see a photo of the result of the procedure though!

They don't really explain why they take out part of the jawbone too if they're only using a bit of the tooth, unless it's to retain the blood vessels.

 

[waht]

Nah, that would involve using a rib rather than a tooth.

Yea, the eye for an eye tooth for a tooth thing.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Pretty ingeniusly bizarre, huh?

Here's another ingeniusly bizarre trick I learned for being able to see. When I'm in the shower and not wearing my glasses, and I need to read the shampoo or conditioner bottle, I make a tiny little pinhole with my index finger and I can read almost any size writing quite clearly through the pinhole. It's quite a handy little trick - not to mention a real party-stopper at the old folks home.

You've reinvented a pinhole camera (camera obscura). Another good trick, when you watch tv and they digitally obscure some naughty bit (teasers for sweeps week and all that...) is to squint your eyes- optically, you are generating a low-pass optical filter and can usually reconstruct the blurry bits.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Andy - I don't want my naughty blurry bits reconstructed... I'm too old.

Then there is this take on the operation: I wonder if his quality of life actually increased?
Just because he can see some blurry images isn't going to be much help in getting thorugh life. Right or wrong?

 

[Andy Resnick]

Andy - I don't want my naughty blurry bits reconstructed... I'm too old.

Then there is this take on the operation: I wonder if his quality of life actually increased?
Just because he can see some blurry images isn't going to be much help in getting thorugh life. Right or wrong?

That's a very good question! Was the operation for the benefit of the patient, or for the benefit of the docs who get the publicity?

 

[Evo]

Andy - I don't want my naughty blurry bits reconstructed... I'm too old.

Then there is this take on the operation: I wonder if his quality of life actually increased?
Just because he can see some blurry images isn't going to be much help in getting thorugh life. Right or wrong?

From the articles posted, they can read, get around on their own, watch tv, etc...