A RENOWNED eye specialist who has transformed the lives of scores of patients has been recognised in the New Year Honours.

Senior consultant ophthalmic surgeon Christopher Liu was given an OBE for his services to the profession.

The 58-year-old from Hove has worked at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton for more than 22 years.

He said: “I am overjoyed with being appointed OBE.

“I humbly accept the honour bestowed upon me on behalf of my team, my teachers, my colleagues, my many fellows and students and my family.”

Professor Liu was the first surgeon in the UK to learn a pioneering technique taught to him by an Italian expert.

It involved restoring sight through the reconstruction of a new eye using a tiny plastic lens and one of the patient’s own teeth.

Prof Liu started doing the operations in the 1990s and received patients from across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.

He has also taught many international teams and helped them set up in Japan, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Australia, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, and other places.He is also honorary clinical professor at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and set up the Sussex Eye Foundation, a charity with an aim to create a state of the art eye facility for the South East.