The beautiful moment a blind man sees his wife for first time
A radical eye surgery that has never been performed in the southern hemisphere has successfully restored the sight of a blind man.
The beautiful moment the NSW man saw his wife for the first time in years was captured on camera.
NSW man John Ings was left virtually blind by a childhood eye injury and a series of illnesses. He was entirely blind in his right eye and the vision in his left eye was “frosted”. He was only able to see blurry outlines.
Gold Coast oral and maxillofacial surgeon Shannon Webber and Sydney ophthalmologist Greg Moloney performed the osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis procedure at the Sydney Eye Hospital.
The operation has never been done in Australia and the risk meant John could have completely lost all his sight in his left eye.
Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes caught the moment when John finally saw his wife again for the first time.
"Getting good eyesight back was worth the risk of losing the little bit I had," John said.
"You take your sight for granted.
"You've got to lose it to really appreciate it."
Dr Moloney and Dr Webber admitted they also got caught up in the emotional moment.
"It's probably the first time I've shed a tear in my medical career," Dr Webber said.
"The moment John saw his wife was very satisfying, very gratifying.
"We were very relieved."
Video credit: 60 Minutes Australia Twitter