London, U.K. -- A Briton who lost one eye and blinded the other in an accident was able to see again after part of his tooth was implanted in his eye socket as part of a unique sight-restoration surgery.

Martin Jones, 42, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire saw his wife for the first time when doctors removed the bandage off his operated eye.

"The doctors took the bandages off and it was like looking through water and then I saw this figure and it was her," Jones told The Daily Mail on Friday.

Jones had been blind for eight years when he married Gill, 50, four years ago. He lost his sight in 1997 when a tub of hot molten aluminum exploded in his face at work in a scrap yard. He was severely burned and his damaged left eye had to be removed.

Doctors tried to restore Jones' sight by using donated stem cells on his blind right eye but the operation was unsuccessful. Then Christopher Liu, a corneal specialist and Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon based at Sussex Eye Hospital, Brighton used a revolutionary technique that involved the implantation of part of his tooth under his eyelid to hold an artificial lens. The tooth segment was used in place of a plastic holder because the body will not reject it.

A patch of skin grafted from under Jones' cheek was placed onto his eye and left there for two months so blood vessels can grow on it. The tooth implant is transplanted into the eye socket and the flap of grafted skin acting as the cornea is then placed over it. A hole is cut in the cornea to let light pass through the new lens.

The unique procedure has been done only 50 times in Britain.

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