BIONIC EYE...

91-year-old can see wife due to artificial cornea

- MARTIN BAGOT

A 91-YEAR-OLD man has become the first patient in the country to receive an artificial cornea.

Cecil Farley faced a year-long wait for sight-saving surgery after a human cornea transplant failed, but his surgeon offered him the chance to skip the queue by using an artificial one.

Mr Farley, married to Elizabeth, 83, said: "I can still see my wife after 63 years' marriage. It makes your life fuller when your eyes work properly.

"You don't realise how debilitating it is until it happens to you."

The operation he had replaced the inner part of his cornea with an artificial lens attached to the eye by a single stitch.