05:35 PM EDT on Monday, May 22, 2006

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16-year-old Kurtis Thomas damaged his left eye while playing paintball with friends.

“The natural lens inside his eye was partly dislocated and the pupil, actually the iris of his eye, which is what regulates the light getting in his eye, had been severely damaged. Then he developed a cataract. He has not only a cataract but the support mechanism of the lens of his eye is also damaged,” says Dr. Kenneth Rosenthal of New York Eye & Ear Hospital.

Dr. Rosenthal determined that Kurtis was a candidate for a rare procedure called an iris prothesis.

“It takes the place of the natural iris of the eye,” he said.

The actual device is made out of a substance similar to Plexiglas - flexible, but rigid enough to go into the eye and maintain its size and shape.  The procedure can take anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours, depending on the severity of eye trauma.

In terms of recovery, Dr. Rosenthal said some patients have come in the next day, post-surgery and are completely “WOWED!” by their new-found vision.

For patients who have sustained severe trauma, it could take any where from three to six.

It’s been just a few weeks since Kurtis’ surgery and he’s already back to shooting hoops.  “The first thing I noticed once I got the surgery, was colors are more vibrant and you see more depth out of things with both eyes than one eye, and it’s a lot easer to do things now that I can see out of both eyes,” says Kurtis.

To date, there have been nearly 2,000 iris prosthesis procedures performed around the world.  While it is not yet FDA approved, clinical trials are underway.