Brent Chapman regains sight using tooth-in-eye surgery

Brent Chapman has regained his sight after two decades of near-blindness through a rare ophthalmic procedure known as Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis (OOKP), often referred to as “tooth-in-eye” surgery.

Chapman’s vision loss began at age 13 following a severe reaction to ibuprofen, which led to a 27-day coma and subsequent infections. While he lost his left eye, his right eye suffered severe impairment. Over the next 20 years, he underwent nearly 50 surgeries, primarily corneal transplants, which repeatedly failed to provide lasting results.

Dr. Greg Moloney, a clinical associate professor of corneal surgery at the University of British Columbia, proposed the OOKP procedure as a final option. The technique uses the patient’s own tooth to create a scaffold for a lens, which is then implanted into the eye to restore vision when traditional transplants are no longer viable.