It was shocking to hear of his death this morning, and serves to show us that things are not always as they seem. An accidental hero, PC Rathband was admired by the nation for the bravery he showed having been shot whilst on duty, leaving him blind. From his hospital bedside he founded the Blue Lamp Foundation to help those in the emergency services and their families cope if they are injured at work. Outwardly, he showed great courage in adapting to his blindness with the support of his wife and children. He ran the London Marathon and deservedly won a Pride Of Britain award.
Sadly however, he later felt that he simply couldn’t cope with his blindness and decided to take his own life less than two years after the shooting. He seemed to think that his blindness made him a burden stating in a BBC interview ‘I hear people’s voices when they are talking to me and I feel the resentment in their voice for having to guide me around.’
Blindness can be extremely hard to take, especially if you have previously had good eyesight. At first you may feel dependant, and frustrated that little tasks that once came easily to you are much more difficult. However with time and advice from the experts, life can begin to seem normal again.
RNIB offer specially made products for blind people helping them not to just ‘get by’ but enjoy their lives. There has recently been pioneering stem cell surgery with success having already been reported from patients such as Katie Piper. PC Rathbone himself had put himself forward for the BrainPort device that translates information from a digital video camera to the tongue, through gentle electrical stimulation.
What we are trying to say for anyone who may lose their vision or knows someone who is blind, please don’t give up hope.
We all know that quote, and after the 1997 box office hit Titanic, perhaps there’s not much left to be learnt about the Titanic. One common misconception however is why the ships collision with the iceberg happened in the first place. In the film much of the blame is attributed to the dastardly Mr. Ismay for ordering the vessel to go faster. Well according to maritime historian and yachtmaster Graham Anthony, not necessarily so. He explained the Titanic’s sister ship the Carpathia was travelling at the same speed at the Titanic, 30 miles an hour, when it successfully travelled through exactly the same area, avoiding six icebergs on the way. Instead he says the iceberg should crucially have been spotted faster. The problem he claims wasn’t that the watchmen didn’t have binoculars, but because they were not taught how to effectively use their eyes in the dark.
It is surprising, but our eyes actually have a remarkable ability to see in the dark. They are simply not used to having to do so as in this modern world, with electricity and artificial light we rarely need to. With regards to the Titanic, Mr Anthony believes the naked eye is best for spotting hazards on a dark night. What’s important is to keep ones eye’s still allowing them to focus, something the watchmen failed to do . At the inquest one said ‘We were looking all over the place, all around.’ This would have enabled their peripheral vision to recognise at least the outline of the iceberg.
We read a week or so ago about American model, stylist and fashion editor Lauren Scruggs who suffered terrible injuries when she accidentally walked into the propeller of her friend’s private plane. The 23-year-old lost her left hand, sustained injury to her shoulders and suffered some brain damage. It was hoped however that doctors would be able to save her left eye but unfortunately it emerged yesterday that this too had to be removed along with the nerves surrounding it. She will have a prosthetic eye fitted in America.
The good news is that she remains positive and is making good progress, surrounded by friends and family who have so far raised $15,000 for her medical bills. We here at Eyeform wish her all the best with her recovery.
Now that they’ve already started stocking Christmas gifts in the shops, we thought it wise to start thinking about our Christmas party. We’ve decided to throw a party at our practice on the 9th of December. We look forward to seeing all our friends and colleagues there!
Over the course of 20 years in creating prosthetic eyes one of the most significant things I have noticed is the advancement in technology in all aspects of the creation of eyes. Acrylic materials have progressed at a rapid pace in terms of quality,hardiness and appearance, all in the development of a more realistic and comfortable ocular prosthesis. These advances in technology have meant that the loss of an eye need no longer mean the loss of a natural appearance to the wearer and today’s ocular prosthesis is carefully matched, comfortable and cosmetically pleasing.
What is also noticable is the technology that we use in order to achieve this. In particular how we can obtain an accurate match to the patient’ existing eye in order to create the best result. Just a little over 10 years ago the best and most advanced method available to me to begin the process was the trusty Polaroid instant camera. After initial examination and consultation with the patient the next step would be to take an a photograph using this camera as a starting point to making the artificial eye. Then as we made the eye, document any changes through the same method. Below is an old example dating from the 90’s of this type of photo, with a near complete ocular prosthesis, which I found in the lab recently.
With the advent of the new millenium came a broad range of new and exciting technology. And I guess along with the ipod the most significant of these was the digital camera becoming a more mainstream and affordable product. During the early part of the most recent decade I began experimenting with using digital photography as a way of getting an immediate and detailed image from which I could work from. I realised that this had much potential. As time has past I have come to see how much this has assisted me in creating a realistic prosthetic eye. Today in the practice we use a state of the art Canon EOS 550D which is able to take an excellent photo from which to work with.
What is of particular benefit is as we go through the process of creating the prosthesis we can share this very well with the patient. As soon as the photos are taken we place them onto the larger computer screen where myself, the staff and the patient, and in many cases their loved ones can discuss any particular concerns noticing what is good and what we need to work on. This follows through all the way until the final product. In other words these photos become a invaluable resource in making an ocular prosthesis. Just to contrast how far we have come in this area compare these photos below, again of near complete ocular prostheses, with the earlier polaroid from above. I can safely say the images speak for themselves in terms of improvement.
Of course we here at eyeform will continue to look for ways in which we can develop the use of technology to improve the quality of our work to an even higher level. This has also included using the video camera as well to show other aspects of the artificial eye such as movement of the eye and also how to both insert and remove a prosthesis. With the written agreement of some of our patients we have been able to use this particular video below on Youtube as well as others. As of this week it has had over 265,000 views!
As always if you have further queries these please contact us either direct on +442074874267 or via the form on the website. Also keep a lookout for regular updates via both the eyeform accounts on Facebook & Twitter.
