F or Martin Jones “saved by the skin of one’s teeth” has a whole new meaning. Looking like a character straight out from a sci-fi thriller of 80’s he smiles shyly. His face is flushed with gratitude for the doctors who made it possible for him to see after 12 years of blindness. Bombarded by an etiolate of colors of the simple things surrounding him, he is still stunned. taken from) Photo courtesy: ROSS PARRY SYNDICATION ‘I feel fantastic getting my sight back,’ he said. ‘I can’t really describe it – it’s beyond words. I was blind for 12 years and when my sight came back everything had changed. Martin Jones, a builder by profession was struck by a horrific accident while working in a scrap yard more than 12 years ago. He was stuck in the eye by an exploding tub of hot white aluminium. Martin suffered from immense difficulties. 37 per cent of his eyes were burnt and he had to wear a custom made body stocking for 23 hours a day. Surgeons were able to save the right eye, although Martin was unable to see through it. He also had his left eye removed.



‘But when I take my glasses off they say ‘oh my God’ because my eye looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. They’re just amazed at it.’ Martin had already spent 8 years of blindness when he married Mrs. Jones, who then gave him a renewed will to fight his condition. Martin was 50 years when he married.



‘The doctors took the bandages off and it was like looking through water and then I saw this figure and it was her,’ he told the reporters.



‘She’s wonderful and lovely. It was unbelievable to see her for the first time.’ He added: ‘When I found out there was a chance I would get my sight back, the first person I wanted to see was her.’

The Path to victory for Martin was never an easy, doctors operated on his eye using stem cells from a donor but the attempt was unsuccessful. A simply amazing operation, carried out less than 50 times around the world, which involves implanting a part of his tooth in the eye, came to Martin’s rescue. This technique uses a segment of tooth as a frame for a new lens grafted from the person’s own skin. It was only when a groundbreaking new operation was founded at the Sussex Eye Clinic in Brighton, United Kingdom, that he was given a chance to have his sight back.



‘The doctors took the bandages off and it was like looking through water and then I saw this figure and it was her. She’s wonderful and lovely. It was unbelievable to see her for the first time.’



Surgeons used a living tooth to carry a new lens as the plastic implants are generally rejected.

The eight-hour operation was founded by surgeon Christopher Liu, it is designed to help patients who have corneal blindness but who are not appropriate for traditional corneal transplants.

