A novel technique to fabricate ocular prosthesis

An ocular prosthesis or artificial eye (a type of Craniofacial prosthesis) replaces an absent natural eye following an enucleation, evisceration, or orbital exenteration. The prosthetic fits over an orbital implant and under the eyelids. Often referred to as a glass eye, the ocular prosthesis roughly takes the shape of a convex shell. An ocular prosthetic does not provide vision; this would be a visual prosthetic. Someone with an ocular prosthetic is totally blind on the affected side and has monocular (one sided) vision which affects depth perception. The first in-socket artificial eyes were made of gold with colored enamel, later evolving into the use of glass (thus the name “glass eye”) by the Venetians in the later part of the sixteenth century. Here a technique combining prefabricated eye shell and digital image of iris to fabricate ocular prosthesis is described.