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!
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