Making a prosthetic eye is a detailed and involving process. To ensure the risk of infection and pain is avoided we normally wait around eight weeks after surgery before making an appointment to come and see us. We can avoid pain by ensuring that healing is complete before beginning work. Once healed there should be no pain at any point.

At the first appointment, we will have a chat with the patient and talk about the procedure and what to expect. We will also offer any aftercare advice and anything else the patient wants to know. It is a sensitive time in their life, and self esteem is often very low. We do what we can to reassure the patient that they will soon be almost as good as new once we have finished with them.

We have to take a measurement of the eye to make a mould to use in creating the prosthetic eye. We usually do this by injecting alginate into the socket. This material like a wax that sets in a couple of minutes and ends up looking a bit like a boiled egg. Once set we remove the mould and coat it in dental stone to make a cast. Then molten wax is added to the cast to make an exact replica of the socket. The is the best way we have at the moment to be able to make a comfortable eye that will fit into the socket with the minimum of discomfort.

Once we have the wax model we choose and place an iris piece or button onto it. By taking time to place this in the correct position ensuring the direction and size is correct, the end result will be as near as possible to the remaining one. This process can take a couple of hours, but the time and care taken will bear fruit in the end as it allows us to get an exact match. Patience is required here, but as it will have a bearing on how the patient will look afterwards, they generally don’t mind too much.

Further appointments may be necessary as we build the final eye to ensure fit and finish. Once we are satisfied that it’s as close to the real thing as possible we make a last mould out of dental stone inside a fibreglass container. We remove this and place the iris button onto it and make sure its aligned. Now it’s time to make the final eye. We do this by placing white plastic into the final mould, close it up and place in a warmed water bath to set. This forms the basis of the final eye.

Once the plastic is set, it is trimmed down a bit at the front and a clear plastic “lens” is added where the iris will be painted. Over this a plastic sheet is added, which is also cured until hard. Now we have the physical form of the eye which will be hand painted and finished.

The patient will be recalled and will have to sit with us while we do the hand finishing. This is purely so they can model the remaining eye and we can decorate the prosthetic one so it matches it. This is another step that takes time and patience to do properly. Again, for the most part the patient understands that they benefit from it so are generally okay with the sitting around. We have to fit the eye a few times to make sure the finish is good in-situ and with all the environmental effects. Depending on how it looks, this may take a few tries, although there have been a couple where we only had to do it once.

Once this is finished, the decoration is allowed to dry and is then coated with a very thin layer of acrylic to protect it. Once set and dried the eye is ready for cleaning and final fitting. We fit the eye onto the patient and ensure that it resembles the remaining one as closely as possible. Once we are both happy with the result it’s all finished! It is a long and detailed process, and it needs to be if we’re going to do the best for the patient.

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