Whatever will they think of next? On Wednesday, a once-blind Irishman, Bob McNichol, told the press how his eyesight was restored. His son Robert, 23, donated a tooth, its root, and part of his jaw. Ouch. I always said I would never repeat the one horrible experience I had with extracting a tooth, but for something like this, I might just consider it worth it. A tooth for an eye - now there's a good exchange!

McNichol, 57, was blinded about two years ago, in a freak accident involving the explosion of liquid aluminum. He assumed he would be blind for the rest of his life after doctors in Ireland said they had no cure. Then McNichol heard about Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP), an innovative operation performed by Dr. Christopher Liu, who leads the OOPK team at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton, England. This hospital is the only center in England that performs this operation.

The technique was first invented in Italy in the 1960's. The technique uses the patient's tooth and surrounding bone to form a support for an artificial cornea. McNichol had a 65 percent change of getting any of his eyesight back. The two operations required lasted ten hours and five hours, respectively.

The most common complication from this operation is secondary glaucoma. However, most would say it is worth the risk, as their eyesight would be no worse off than before the operation.