Russell Turnbull lost most of the sight of his right eye after being sprayed in the face with ammonia while trying to break up an altercation on a bus In 1994, as reported by the Times.
The 38-year-old was left with pain, extreme sensitivity to light and cloudy vision.
However, a team from the North East England Stem Cell Institute – which is a collaboration between Newcastle and Durham Universities, as well as Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and other partners – have managed to correct much of the damage.
They used stem cells from his left eye to repair the injured one and, a year and a half after the procedure, Mr Turnbull is not almost pain-free and has dramatically improved sight.
He remarked: “This has transformed my life, my eye is almost as good as it was before the accident.”