Blind man gives his eye teeth to see again

A blind grandfather from north London has had his sight restored by a pioneering operation in which one of his teeth was used to make him a new eye.

Bhimji Varsani, aged 62, from north Finchley, lost the sight in his right eye through an attack of smallpox as a child, and gradually lost the sight in his left eye, through trachoma, a chronic contagious eye disease.

Surgeons at the Sussex Eye Hospital have now restored the sight in one eye, by making a miniature magnifying glass from one of Mr Varsani's eye teeth and a piece of jaw bone, which was then inserted into his eyeball in a delicate seven-hour operation to replace his damaged cornea.

The two-stage procedure is known as osteo-odontal keratoprosthesis and costs about pounds 7,000 to perform.

Mr Varsani said: "I can't believe it. It is magic. I haven't seen anything for nearly two years - my grandchildren look so much bigger now."