Dr Siddharth Pujari of Belgaum performed Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis (OOKP) also known as ‘tooth in eye’ surgery on a patient to regain his vision.
He is reportedly the first doctor in Karnataka to restore a person’s sight by using a tooth.
Gururaj Kalal (30) of Bailhongal, became blind about 10 years ago due to Steven Johnson Syndrome (SJS). When he was 20, Kalal had flu-like symptoms and consulted a local doctor who prescribed medicines and gave him an amoxicillin injection. Gururaj developed an anaphylactic reaction which caused boils all over his body and affected the eyes. His vision deteriorated and eventually lost sight in both his eyes.
Dr Pujari found that the inside of his eyes were functional enough and decided to test the skills he picked up from Dr Falcinelli of Rome and Dr Foster of Harvard University, USA.
The OOKP operation performed by Dr Pujari on December 14, took seven hours. But the procedure had begun seven months earlier in June, when Dr Pujari with Dr Neelkamal Hallur (maxillofacial surgeon) extracted Gururaj’s canine tooth and fixed an optical cylinder. This was ‘naturalised’ over the next few months after it was put under his eyelid skin.