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The history of fake eyes, or ocular prosthetics is a surprisingly long one. The first mention of them was found in Iran in 2006 in a text from approximately 5000 BC. They were mentioned and demonstrated again in Ancient Egypt where eye cups or covers were placed over the eyes of the deceased. The next mention of them in within the history of Rome where it is mentioned that fake eyes were made from wood and crudely painted to resemble a real eye if a Legionary lost one in battle. The Romans also decorated some of their statues with artificial eyes made of silver. While splinters probably can’t be ruled out of the wooden ones, infection certainly couldn’t be. After the Romans, there is little mention on the subject until the 16th century where Shakespeare mentioned them in King Lear. Around the same time a French surgeon by the name of Ambrose Pare wrote about a procedure that used fake or artificial eyes to fit inside a socket. This is perhaps the first modern account of the procedure. He describes two kinds of eye, an ekblephara which was fitted in front of the eyelid, and hypoblephara which was designed to fit under the eyelid. The next revolution in artificial eyes came around 1835, when German craftsmen designed a form of glass called cryolite glass which had a greyish white color which matched the real eye more closely than ever before. They heated a tube of glass and formed a ball on one end that was then cut off and trimmed. An artist then hand painted an iris and details onto the eye. Although the procedure and materials used have evolved somewhat, the overall process remains remarkably similar almost two hundred years later. France and Germany continued to dominate this field, eventually coining the term “ocularist” for the craftsmen who made the eyes. German ocularists came to America in the late 1800’s touring the cities and making eyes for people who needed them. Eventually a mail order system was created to provide eyes by post. These weren’t as sophisticated as the custom made ones but were much cheaper and more readily available. Eventually eye doctors all around the world had eye drawers where they could pull out an eye that closely fit a patient. This made the whole process much quicker and convenient for the patient as they no longer had to wait for the German tour to visit their city or for an eye to be custom made. This practice continued until World War II when German goods were understandably limited and all resources were directed inwards. This meant the US military had to develop its own system to look after its own needs, and the needs of the wider population. As a result, plastics were used in the fabrication for the first time. Since then plastic has been used for almost all fake or artificial eye manufacture. Modern materials and techniques have developed the industry further, until the point when an artificial eye is almost unnoticeable like today. Tags: fake eyes plastic eyes fake eye fake eye plastic eye eyes Prosthetic Eyes Fake Plastic Eyes Artificial Plastic Eyes Artificial Fake Eyes Artificial Eyes Fake Glass Eyes |