Frequently Asked Questions

Your custom-made ocular prosthesis is designed to be worn day and night. The less handling of the prosthesis the better. There are rare cases when it may be necessary to remove the eye at night.

See Your Prosthesis.

We recommend baby shampoo and hot water. The eye may be scrubbed well with the thumb and forefinger. Never use alcohol or peroxide to clean your prosthesis. If there are heavy surface deposits formed by tears, protein and mucus, they may present themselves as a dull film. If these become heavy they will irritate the lids and cause more secretion. Usually these deposits can be removed by using the above-prescribed method. If this does not work, then you should return to your ocularist for polishing.

Your eye should be checked every 6 months to one year by your ocularist to determine if changes are needed, and that there are no scratches or surface deposits. Each patient’s situation is different so time between check ups may vary.

No definite answer can be given to this question. How long your eye lasts will depend on your age, occupation, and physical condition and of course, how well you take care of your eye. Many patients have them replaced between 5 to 7 years, but again, the above conditions may cause the replacement time to vary.

Most patients will have a six to eight week waiting period before they are fitted with an artificial eye. Your ophthalmologist will let you know when he thinks your socket is ready.

 A custom-made ocular prosthesis is fabricated for each individual patient so the eye will fit only the person it was made for.

The number-one question asked is will I be put to sleep, can I drive and can I eat before I come. No, you will not be put to sleep, but yes you can drive and eat breakfast. This is in no way a surgical procedure, but instead much like a day at the dentist’s office except that there are no needles involved. If you have not been to the ocularist’s office for an initial evaluation after your surgery, the ocularist will examine your socket and make sure everything is properly healed and there are no problems or concerns.

Upon arrival the socket will be examined as mentioned above. An alginate impression will be taken and from the impression a wax model will be produced. The wax pattern will be carved and modified to fit your socket. The eye is processed into acrylic then hand tinted and painted to match the fellow eye. We offer one-day service to accommodate those who come from out of town, work or have to have someone bring them to this office.

Because we do offer one-day service, we ask you arrive at 8:00 in the morning so we have plenty of time allotted for each patient. Times vary with when the eye is completed because each socket is different and the cause of eye loss is different for each patient.