Dr Mario Saldanha with Mandy Liscombe

A UK grandmother has had ink tattooed onto her eyeballs to act as sunglasses to counter her five-year battle with light-sensitive vision.

Mandy Liscombe had the pioneering treatment at an NHS hospital in Swansea, Wales after conventional solutions, such as wearing coloured glasses or contact lenses, failed to resolve her extreme sensitivity to light, an unusual side effect from her laser surgery to treat glaucoma.

Consultant ophthalmologist Dr Mario Saldanha told The Telegraph, "For Mrs Liscombe, we used a tiny, precise scalpel to create a pocket in the centre of the cornea over where she had the laser. We then put in a layer of tattoo ink and closed the pocket. It's like having a filter in the clear window of her eye but without affecting the coloured part and retaining the artificial opening. It worked instantly.”