‘It’s absolutely mind blowing’: Canada’s first tooth-in-eye surgery could restore North Vancouver man’s vision – CTV
February 24, 2025
Brent Chapman was 13 years old when he took two ibuprofen tablets during a basketball tournament and had a severe allergic reaction known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome. He fell into a coma, and when he awoke a month later, he was blind.
“I think I’ve had 10 corneal transplants now in 20 years,” said Chapman, who works as a massage therapist in North Vancouver.
He’s having another procedure on Thursday that he hopes will restore his sight. It’s called tooth-in-eye surgery, and it sounds like science fiction.
“In essence, we are trying to really just replace a clear window on the front of the eye. And the tooth is the perfect structure to hold a focusing piece of plastic or a telescope for the patient to see through,” said Dr. Greg Moloney, a corneal surgeon who perfected the two-part procedure in his native Australia and moved to Vancouver in 2021.
Moloney and oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Shannon Webber, who has flown in from Australia, will perform the initial surgery on Chapman and two other patients this week at Mount Saint Joseph hospital in Vancouver.
The surgeons will remove one of the patient’s canine teeth and glue a small lens inside that tooth.
