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Martin Jones opens his newly-sighted eye fitted with a tooth

Mr Jones,

had already spent eight years without his sight after a tub of white hot aluminium exploded in his face at work in a scrapyard.

He suffered 37 per cent burns and had to wear a special body stocking for 23 hours a day. He also has his left eye removed.

But surgeons were able to save the right eye, even though he was unable to see through it.

It was only when a revolutionary new operation was pioneered at the Sussex Eye Clinic in Brighton that he was given a chance to have his sight back.

During the procedure, a minute section of a patient's tooth is removed, reshaped and chiseled through to grip the man-made lens which is then placed in its core.

It is implanted under an eyelid where it becomes covered in tissue.

The process requires a living tooth as an implant because doctors suggest there are chances the eye would reject a plastic equivalent

'I feel fantastic getting my sight back,' he said. 'I