Woman now sees through her tooth after losing her sight a decade ago in astonishing first
It's not just the realms of artificial intelligence that are evolving faster than we can keep up with, as pioneering surgery is advancing the human race in ways that weren't even possible just a matter of years ago.
Now, a 75-year-old Canadian woman has been given a new lease of life thanks to her sight being restored in a truly unique way.
There's been a rush on innovative surgeries, like Elon Musk's Neuralink allowing paralyzed people to communicate, breakthrough cancer treatments, and surgery being performed from the other side of the world.
It's amazing to see how far we've come, and for Gail Lane, these breakthrough techniques have allowed her to see again for the first time in a decade.
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As reported by the CBC, the blind Canadian got her sight back thanks to a world-first surgery that implanted a tooth in her eye socket.
Lane tragically lost her eyesight when an auto-immune disorder badly scarred her corneas. Now, she's one of just three Canadians to have undergone the rare osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis procedure – more commonly known as tooth-in-eye surgery.
In the two weeks following her surgery, Lane recalls gradually being able to see again, with her first seeing bits of light, and then the wagging tail of her partner's service dog. Lane was astounded as Piper, the black Labrador, came into focus alongside more bits of the world around her.
Explaining what it was like being able to see again for the first time in 10 years, Lane told the outlet: "I can see lots of colour and I can see outside now. The trees and the grass and flowers, it's a wonderful feeling to be able to see some of those things again."
Amazingly, Lane has been able to see her partner's face for the first time, having met Phil after she'd lost her sight: "I'm starting to see facial features on other people as well, which is also pretty exciting."
Although she's unable to focus on her own facial details just yet, she hopes that a new pair of glasses will go hand-in-hand with her surgery so she can look at herself in the mirror. Ophthalmologist Dr. Greg Moloney from Vancouver's Mount Saint Joseph Hospital brought the osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis procedure to Canada after it had been successful in other countries.
Expanding a little more on how things work, Moloney said: "It's a complex and strange operation, but it basically involves replacing the cornea."
A tooth is extracted from a patient's mouth and implanted into their cheek for several months. When covered in strong connective tissue, the tooth is removed from the cheek and has a plastic focusing telescope or lens inserted into it. The connective tissue is used as an anchor, with both this and the tooth being sutured into the eye socket.
It's not that easy, with Moloney reiterating: "We need a structure that is strong enough to hold onto the plastic focusing telescope, but is not going to be rejected by the body."
Even though Lane admits it was a long and painful recovery, she thinks it was all worth it in the end.
Looking forward to a brighter future, she concluded: "I'm hoping to have more mobility and independence in terms of short trips and walks here and there where I don't always have to have someone's arm for me to grab onto.
"I'm just looking forward, really, to seeing what I can do or do again — and trying to just be patient and let my brain adjust a bit because that's another big part of this."