Health. Blind for 12 years, he regains his sight thanks to a tooth graft in his eye.

Dylan Vas, now 24, and blind since his teenage years, regained his sight thanks to an innovative surgical operation. It had been 12 years since he had seen a sunset, his own face, or those of his loved ones. They were the ones he was most looking forward to seeing, he confided to France Télévision before the operation. "Seeing my parents again, because my parents are my parents. I'm still quite scared to see them, because I tell myself that the people around me must have taken a bit of a hit. My brother and sister were very young," he admitted. "Then, nature, seeing a flower again, just a rose. All of that is my goal, in fact."

A goal that can be achieved thanks to a keratoprosthesis, an operation performed by a single surgeon in France, Professor Vincent Daien, head of the ophthalmology department at the Montpellier University Hospital (Hérault). If he is the only Frenchman capable of performing this procedure, it is because it is complex and time-consuming.

A keratoprosthesis consists of recreating an eye from a piece of tooth, bone, and Plexiglas. The first osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis, to give it its full name, dates back to the early 1960s, under the aegis of Italian ophthalmic surgeon Benedetto Strampelli, but mastery of the technique is rare.

"Keratoprosthesis is only possible for patients who have lost their sight, but whose optic nerve is still in good condition," notes ophthalmologist Emna Blagui. For corneal or ocular surface vision impairments, a corneal transplant may be enough to restore sight. But in some cases, like Dylan Vas's, keratoprosthesis is the only solution. "People lose their sight due to corneal blindness. It's the transparent window of the eye. When it becomes opaque, you can lose your sight. We can use this technique by using a tooth as a support, into which we glue an optic, a fragment of glass or Plexiglas, in the middle, to restore transparency to the front part of the eye," Vincent Daien explained to RMC/BFMTV.

The first step is the removal of a canine tooth, hollowed out to accommodate a 4 to 5 millimeter lens, a piece of jawbone, and a piece of pelvic bone to cut a 1.5 cm by 1 cm piece also incorporating Plexiglas. Next comes the development of the prosthesis, its implantation in the eye, and the nurse placement, that is, the protection of the defective cornea under the eyelid, to prevent rejection of the prosthesis and promote revascularization, the growth of blood vessels in the tissue. The reconstruction of the entire ocular surface comes in a second step. For Dylan Vas, originally from Frontignan (Hérault), the operation was carried out in two stages, on June 24 and September 10. He is the 11th patient operated on by Professor Daien in the last two years.

At the age of 12, the Hérault native suffered from Lyell's syndrome, a rare and sudden allergic reaction that attacks the skin and mucous membranes. While he recovered from most of the after-effects, his eyes remained burned, in a manner thought to be permanent.

Twelve years later, now a young adult, he finally regained some of his sight thanks to Vincent Daien and his team. "Patients who have a very good quality optic nerve can recover up to 10/10, with a visual field reduced by around 40 to 50 degrees," explains the surgeon. "The advantage is that it's a tissue that hardly resorbs. We've found it in patients who died afterwards; it lasts longer than all the other media tested."

In just one week, Dylan Vas has regained three-tenths of his vision. "It's getting clearer and clearer, I'm starting to see my face. It's incredible," the young man rejoices in front of the France Télévision cameras. The unexpected beginning of a new life.