Showing posts with label PROSTHETIC EYES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PROSTHETIC EYES. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
EYE DID IT AGAIN
Because I'm home most days, I give my right eye a break and take my prosthetic eye out. Some times several days at a time. About three months ago I went to Target for the first time in months. Later that day I had plans for the evening and while getting ready I looked in the mirror, oh no, my fake eye was out. This was the first time in almost 18 years of wearing a fake eye. Thankfully I only talked to one person which was the pharmacy tech. Yesterday my husband and I went to Kroger which was very busy. When we were home realized I had done it again. Out in public with only one eye. 
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Hyundai donates $100,000 for Marshfield Clinic pediatric projects Grant supports cancer research
MARSHFIELD -- Three years ago, Heather Adler received news no parent ever wants -- or expects -- to hear: Her daughter had cancer.
Abigail Adler was 4 years old when her parents took her to the doctor to check on what they thought was a lazy eye. It turned out the left eye had a tumor and needed to be removed.
"We thought, 'Why our child?'" Heather Adler said.
Fortunately for the Marshfield family, the cancer didn't spread, and it went into remission after eight months of treatment. Abigail now has a prosthetic eye, but she has handled it all with optimism and "high spirits," her mother said.
"We need to be aware of, no matter what age, children can get cancer," Heather Adler said. "We need to raise more awareness."
To that end, Hyundai Hope on Wheels, a joint effort of Hyundai Motor America and its more than 800 dealers nationwide, announced a $100,000 grant Friday to the Marshfield Clinic for childhood cancer research.
The grant is part of $7.1 million Hyundai is donating this month to 71 pediatric cancer research projects and groups nationwide. September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
By the end of 2011, Hyundai Hope on Wheels will have committed $43 million in donations to pediatric cancer research since its inception in 1998.
Part of the grant to the Clinic came from regional Hyundai dealers' sales.
"Every time a car is sold, a portion goes to Hope on Wheels," said Don Scaffidi, owner of Scaffidi Hyundai in Stevens Point. "It's wonderful -- this money will hopefully go toward finding a cure (for cancer)."
The funds also will be used to foster communication and teach coping skills to patients and families, said Dr. Michael McManus, a pediatric physician at the Clinic. Doctors will work with patients both in-person and through videoconferencing.
"It's a privilege for our oncology team here at the Marshfield Clinic to care for these children and watch them grow up," McManus said during a press conference about the grant.
Abigail and several other cancer survivors attended the press conference, and afterward dipped their hands in paint and placed their imprints together on a poster.
"These children and their loved ones have gone through so much and are true heroes," said Dr. Karl Ulrich, Clinic president and CEO.
Abigail Adler was 4 years old when her parents took her to the doctor to check on what they thought was a lazy eye. It turned out the left eye had a tumor and needed to be removed.
"We thought, 'Why our child?'" Heather Adler said.
Fortunately for the Marshfield family, the cancer didn't spread, and it went into remission after eight months of treatment. Abigail now has a prosthetic eye, but she has handled it all with optimism and "high spirits," her mother said.
"We need to be aware of, no matter what age, children can get cancer," Heather Adler said. "We need to raise more awareness."
To that end, Hyundai Hope on Wheels, a joint effort of Hyundai Motor America and its more than 800 dealers nationwide, announced a $100,000 grant Friday to the Marshfield Clinic for childhood cancer research.
The grant is part of $7.1 million Hyundai is donating this month to 71 pediatric cancer research projects and groups nationwide. September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
By the end of 2011, Hyundai Hope on Wheels will have committed $43 million in donations to pediatric cancer research since its inception in 1998.
Part of the grant to the Clinic came from regional Hyundai dealers' sales.
"Every time a car is sold, a portion goes to Hope on Wheels," said Don Scaffidi, owner of Scaffidi Hyundai in Stevens Point. "It's wonderful -- this money will hopefully go toward finding a cure (for cancer)."
The funds also will be used to foster communication and teach coping skills to patients and families, said Dr. Michael McManus, a pediatric physician at the Clinic. Doctors will work with patients both in-person and through videoconferencing.
"It's a privilege for our oncology team here at the Marshfield Clinic to care for these children and watch them grow up," McManus said during a press conference about the grant.
Abigail and several other cancer survivors attended the press conference, and afterward dipped their hands in paint and placed their imprints together on a poster.
"These children and their loved ones have gone through so much and are true heroes," said Dr. Karl Ulrich, Clinic president and CEO.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The ‘Art’ Of Prosthetic Eyes Doss Tannehill Ocularist
I've had three prosthetic eyes fitted over the past 10 years. I'm getting my fourth prosthetic eye at the end of May. I had an eye lift at the end of March because I have the largest prosthetic that can be mad but my eyelid still droops. It looks so much better now. Here is some info below about it.
Are you one of the few ocularists on the island who make prosthetic eyes?
If the eye is removed which is called an enucleation usually six to eight weeks after the surgery the patient will come to see me, when the healing is completed and most of the swelling is down. For people who have diabetes or who are older, that process can take longer.
Is it common for diabetics to need an enucleation?
Diabetic retinopathy is quite common in Hawaii, as diabetes is very prevalent. And oftentimes the eye will become blind, at which time I can fit a thin prosthesis called a sclera cover shell over that eye, or if the eye has to be removed, then I fit a regular prosthesis.
When might the eye need to be removed?
If there’s pain or pathology. But if those things are not there, there’s no reason to remove the eye. You get less sunkenness and better motility when the eye is there, albeit blind and usually shrunken. You get a better result from my end, and the patient doesn’t have to go through the trauma of surgery and losing a body part. That’s huge.
The eye is part of the body, and the subject of losing it is so private that most of them don’t want to talk about it. It’s a very personal thing. When you talk with someone, you look each other in the eye, so it’s about judging someone’s character.There’s also psychosexual connotations -
when you make googoo eyes at someone, you look them in the eye. When you have loss or disfigurement of an eye, patients feel like there’s a loss of self-esteem.
Even though in their logical mind they know they’re no less of a person. It’s a far bigger loss than fingers or sometimes arms or legs. Eyes are what we use to communicate. It’s not nearly so much about the loss of vision, because with sight out of one eye you can still do many things. In fact, there was a guy who played professional football with one eye.
To what extent do you help patients deal with the psychological trauma?
I talk to them about it and I encourage them to get counseling if they’re struggling. Usually you can tell when you’re fitting the patient and painting the iris, I say “Look at me,” and they don’t want to. But once you break the ice and let them know you’re on the same side I say, “I’m not going to insult you and tell you I know how you feel. I don’t know how you feel, I have two eyes. But I probably know a little bit more about how you feel than the average guy on the street because of what I do for a living.”
You literally look at them and paint one eye to match the other?
Yes.
How realistic is the prosthesis?
If there’s been no lid or facial damage and it’s just a problem with the eyeball and you have a good surgeon, you can expect a good result. The people the ocularist is trying to “trick,” are the ones you meet for the first time, not family and friends. They know they went through the whole ordeal with you.
Are you working with an empty socket, and does the eyeball still move and look natural?
When the surgeon removes the eyeball, they want to fill up some of that space, otherwise the prosthesis is going to be heavy. They attach the existing extraocular muscles to the implant to get motility within the socket. The tissue that’s inside of your socket is mucus membrane, the same thing that’s inside of your mouth.
The most commonly used implants nowadays are made out of a coral that’s only found in Tonga and is very much like human bone. The doctors sew the muscles to it so you get a lot of motility in the socket.
What kind of care or upkeep is needed?
The eye needs to be cleaned and polished every six months. Once a month, take it off and take a look to be sure there’s nothing different going on in your socket or your eye.
Does it last for life?
For seven years, and not because the prosthesis falls apart, it’s because the socket with the eyeball will change, necessitating a refit.
When someone comes to you, what next?
I take an impression by injecting alginate. If you’ve ever had an impression of your teeth, it’s the same stuff; ours is more refined. Also in that first visit I paint the iris.
With the impression, I make a wax pattern and I fit it for size and symmetry. Then I make a mold and put the iris that I painted in there surrounded with white plastic, which is like your sclera, the white part of your eye. The next time they come in I put the veins on and paint the sclera, and then I put it back in the mold with a clear overlay and process it. Next time they come in I deliver it.
Can you talk about your work with patients from Kalaupapa who had Hansen’s disease?
You know what, they’re all gone (chokes up). This brings out my emotions. My dad used to go there and fit them because there were plenty, but the last one died a year ago. Neat people, many of them. That’s a chapter that’s closed. Another one that will be coming to a close in time will be the 100th Battalion, 442nd special guys. The young ones are in their late 80s, so that will be another group I soon won’t be working with anymore
Where did you receive your schooling and training?
I’m a Kamehameha Schools graduate and I went to college at Colorado State. I learned ocularistry from my dad.
How long have you been an ocularist?
I started going to work with my dad when I was 8 years old. Our main business was contact lenses, and he was quite an innovator. After I graduated college, I started doing ocularistry it’s been 39 years.
I’m the only one who lives and works in the state who does this.
At what point does someone come to you after losing an eye?If the eye is removed which is called an enucleation usually six to eight weeks after the surgery the patient will come to see me, when the healing is completed and most of the swelling is down. For people who have diabetes or who are older, that process can take longer.
Is it common for diabetics to need an enucleation?
Diabetic retinopathy is quite common in Hawaii, as diabetes is very prevalent. And oftentimes the eye will become blind, at which time I can fit a thin prosthesis called a sclera cover shell over that eye, or if the eye has to be removed, then I fit a regular prosthesis.
|
If there’s pain or pathology. But if those things are not there, there’s no reason to remove the eye. You get less sunkenness and better motility when the eye is there, albeit blind and usually shrunken. You get a better result from my end, and the patient doesn’t have to go through the trauma of surgery and losing a body part. That’s huge.
The eye is part of the body, and the subject of losing it is so private that most of them don’t want to talk about it. It’s a very personal thing. When you talk with someone, you look each other in the eye, so it’s about judging someone’s character.There’s also psychosexual connotations -
when you make googoo eyes at someone, you look them in the eye. When you have loss or disfigurement of an eye, patients feel like there’s a loss of self-esteem.
Even though in their logical mind they know they’re no less of a person. It’s a far bigger loss than fingers or sometimes arms or legs. Eyes are what we use to communicate. It’s not nearly so much about the loss of vision, because with sight out of one eye you can still do many things. In fact, there was a guy who played professional football with one eye.
To what extent do you help patients deal with the psychological trauma?
I talk to them about it and I encourage them to get counseling if they’re struggling. Usually you can tell when you’re fitting the patient and painting the iris, I say “Look at me,” and they don’t want to. But once you break the ice and let them know you’re on the same side I say, “I’m not going to insult you and tell you I know how you feel. I don’t know how you feel, I have two eyes. But I probably know a little bit more about how you feel than the average guy on the street because of what I do for a living.”
You literally look at them and paint one eye to match the other?
Yes.
How realistic is the prosthesis?
If there’s been no lid or facial damage and it’s just a problem with the eyeball and you have a good surgeon, you can expect a good result. The people the ocularist is trying to “trick,” are the ones you meet for the first time, not family and friends. They know they went through the whole ordeal with you.
Are you working with an empty socket, and does the eyeball still move and look natural?
When the surgeon removes the eyeball, they want to fill up some of that space, otherwise the prosthesis is going to be heavy. They attach the existing extraocular muscles to the implant to get motility within the socket. The tissue that’s inside of your socket is mucus membrane, the same thing that’s inside of your mouth.
The most commonly used implants nowadays are made out of a coral that’s only found in Tonga and is very much like human bone. The doctors sew the muscles to it so you get a lot of motility in the socket.
What kind of care or upkeep is needed?
The eye needs to be cleaned and polished every six months. Once a month, take it off and take a look to be sure there’s nothing different going on in your socket or your eye.
Does it last for life?
For seven years, and not because the prosthesis falls apart, it’s because the socket with the eyeball will change, necessitating a refit.
When someone comes to you, what next?
I take an impression by injecting alginate. If you’ve ever had an impression of your teeth, it’s the same stuff; ours is more refined. Also in that first visit I paint the iris.
With the impression, I make a wax pattern and I fit it for size and symmetry. Then I make a mold and put the iris that I painted in there surrounded with white plastic, which is like your sclera, the white part of your eye. The next time they come in I put the veins on and paint the sclera, and then I put it back in the mold with a clear overlay and process it. Next time they come in I deliver it.
Can you talk about your work with patients from Kalaupapa who had Hansen’s disease?
You know what, they’re all gone (chokes up). This brings out my emotions. My dad used to go there and fit them because there were plenty, but the last one died a year ago. Neat people, many of them. That’s a chapter that’s closed. Another one that will be coming to a close in time will be the 100th Battalion, 442nd special guys. The young ones are in their late 80s, so that will be another group I soon won’t be working with anymore
Sunday, April 1, 2012
PROSTHETIC EYES
Patient describing what it's like wearing a prosthetic eye with a Digitally Enhanced Iris Image and what it is like to work with Carole Lewis Stolpe. Best viewed in HQ. http://www.allartificialeyes.com
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
OCULAR EYE
Walter Johnson and the Denver Optic Company are proud to present another short film documenting the eye-making process. This video provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of eye-making, and the man who does it all.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Two children receive prosthetic eyes at West Virgina University
The Associated Press
By Chelsea Fuller
The Dominion Post, Morgantown, West Virigina McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Sept. 21--FOR MORE INFORMATION about the WVU Eye Institute and the Children's Vision Rehabilitation Program /St. Lucia Outreach Program, click on the link at dominionpost.com.
Many do not realize how precious the gift of sight is until they lose it. No one knows this better than the two children from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia who came to Morgantown to receive something they have gone without for far too long.
As patients in the WVU Eye Institute's Children's Vision Rehabilitation Program (CVRP)/ St. Lucia Outreach Program, 9-year-old Christy Joseph and 17-year-old Desir Monchery were presented with custom-made prosthetic eyes yesterday at the WVU Eye Institute.
According to a release from the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, CVRP is a needbased program established in 1996 to serve school-aged children suffering from various types of visual impairment regardless of their family's ability to pay. The program was initially created to assist West Virginians, but expanded to include St. Lucia in 1999.
Every year, WVU specialists treat about 100 children with incurable vision loss through medical eye care, assistive technology and optical devices across West Virginia.
This year, Christy and Desir are two of approximately 150 patients seen in St. Lucia through CVRP.
The program is not restoring Christy's and Desir's sight, but it is giving them something to help them feel more normal, said Clinical Research Coordinator Hilda Curtis, who has participated in the program for nearly ten years.
"Bullying is a problem everywhere, and the more we can help these kids feel 'normal' the better," Curtis said. Before the new prosthetics, Christy and Desir were given hand-me-down prosthetics provided by the WVU Eye Institute.
Christy suffers from Retinoblastoma, a fast developing cancer that affects the eye's light-detecting tissue that resulted in the removal of both her eyes. Her surgery took place in Cuba and was not done by a WVU surgeon, Curtis said.
Desir, who has sight in one eye, lost the other eye to an injury. His surgery was done by Dr. Judie F. Charlton, chair of the WVU Department of Opthalmology and director of the Glaucoma Service. According to Curtis and others present during Tuesday's procedures, Charlton was there for some of Tuesday's events, and was very excited for Christy and Desir.
The prosthetic eyes were custom made by renowned ocularists Walter Tillman and Christopher Antonini. Currently, there are only 141 ocularists in the world, said Tillman, who is the author of the only book ever published on the subject.
By Chelsea Fuller
The Dominion Post, Morgantown, West Virigina McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Sept. 21--FOR MORE INFORMATION about the WVU Eye Institute and the Children's Vision Rehabilitation Program /St. Lucia Outreach Program, click on the link at dominionpost.com.
Many do not realize how precious the gift of sight is until they lose it. No one knows this better than the two children from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia who came to Morgantown to receive something they have gone without for far too long.
As patients in the WVU Eye Institute's Children's Vision Rehabilitation Program (CVRP)/ St. Lucia Outreach Program, 9-year-old Christy Joseph and 17-year-old Desir Monchery were presented with custom-made prosthetic eyes yesterday at the WVU Eye Institute.
According to a release from the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, CVRP is a needbased program established in 1996 to serve school-aged children suffering from various types of visual impairment regardless of their family's ability to pay. The program was initially created to assist West Virginians, but expanded to include St. Lucia in 1999.
Every year, WVU specialists treat about 100 children with incurable vision loss through medical eye care, assistive technology and optical devices across West Virginia.
This year, Christy and Desir are two of approximately 150 patients seen in St. Lucia through CVRP.
The program is not restoring Christy's and Desir's sight, but it is giving them something to help them feel more normal, said Clinical Research Coordinator Hilda Curtis, who has participated in the program for nearly ten years.
"Bullying is a problem everywhere, and the more we can help these kids feel 'normal' the better," Curtis said. Before the new prosthetics, Christy and Desir were given hand-me-down prosthetics provided by the WVU Eye Institute.
Christy suffers from Retinoblastoma, a fast developing cancer that affects the eye's light-detecting tissue that resulted in the removal of both her eyes. Her surgery took place in Cuba and was not done by a WVU surgeon, Curtis said.
Desir, who has sight in one eye, lost the other eye to an injury. His surgery was done by Dr. Judie F. Charlton, chair of the WVU Department of Opthalmology and director of the Glaucoma Service. According to Curtis and others present during Tuesday's procedures, Charlton was there for some of Tuesday's events, and was very excited for Christy and Desir.
The prosthetic eyes were custom made by renowned ocularists Walter Tillman and Christopher Antonini. Currently, there are only 141 ocularists in the world, said Tillman, who is the author of the only book ever published on the subject.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
THE ART OF EYE MAKING
The Art Of Prosthetic Eye Making
Ocularists Number Only A Few Hundred In The Country
By Stephanie Steinberg, Special to CNN
(CNN) -- Most craftsmen bask in glory when others admire and gush over their art, but a compliment is the last thing Christie Erickson wants.
"I don't want the general public to know what I do is fake," Erickson says. "It's best if it's not noticed at all."
Erickson is an ocularist, or trained technician who makes prosthetic eyes. While some call it a skill, Erickson says recreating the "personality," "emotion" and "sparkle" conveyed in a person's eye is an art.
Each eye "tells a story and reflects a lot," Erickson explains.
Erickson and her son Todd Cranmore are two of the six ocularists in the state of Washington and among the few hundred in the country. Because no school teaches ocularistry, people who want to enter the profession must spend 10,000 hours, or five years, of apprenticeship to become certified.
The career blends the fields of art and science -- as only people with a creative side and anatomical knowledge can duplicate the organ that gives the gift of sight.
Painting the pupil is a difficult part of the crafting process. "It's really hard to paint something round," Erickson says.
It's a common misconception that prosthetic eyes are made of glass, but they're actually designed using acrylic materials and paint. The only nonacrylic piece is the silk thread placed on the eye's surface to simulate veins.
Today, no member of the American Society of Ocularists, which includes 200 professional ocularists in the United States and Canada, makes glass eyes, according to Christine Boehm, the society's education chairwoman. She explained that acrylic eyes last longer, fit easier and can better match the color of the original eye.
"There aren't many people left who make glass eyes," says Boehm, who has been an ocularist for more than 25 years in Toronto.
The art of eye making dates back to the fifth century B.C., when Romans and Egyptians painted clay eyes and wore them over eye sockets. In the 1500s, the Venetians crafted blown-glass eyes that could be worn inside the sockets, but the globes were uncomfortable and sometimes shattered.
It wasn't until World War II that eye makers switched from glass to acrylic, because Americans couldn't import glass from Germany. To their delight, ocularists found acrylic eyes didn't break like glass ones and the material was more flexible to mold. For several decades, stock eyes were mass produced as a one-size-fits-all concept. But production has since evolved into the handmade craft of today that brings makers and patients together to custom fit the perfect eye.
Erickson can spend four days making an eye look real. "It's a challenge, but I do enjoy a challenge," she says.
Erickson, who has crafted prosthetic eyes for 30 years, took up the trade after her son Tim lost his eye in an accident. Tim, who was 3 years old at the time, was watching his father fix a tractor when a bolt flew off into his eye. Tim was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, but the eye was damaged beyond repair.
The Ericksons decided to get Tim a prosthetic eye before he entered kindergarten so kids wouldn't taunt him about his shrunken and callused eye.
"We wanted him of course to be whole again and have nobody notice it," Erickson says, adding that she would have traded places with her son if she could have.
"You're watching your child go through this, you'd give anything to have it be yourself instead of them," she says.
After agonizing over Tim's lost sight and overcoming the pain by seeing him "made whole" again, Erickson decided she wanted to help others erase the suffering she had felt. Erickson apprenticed in between raising four kids, and eight years later she had her professional ocularist license.
Erickson's younger son Todd tossed around the idea of attending medical school, but ultimately decided to follow his mother's path and become an ocularist. The two run Erickson Labs Northwest in Kirkland, Washington, where thousands of patients have come through their doors.
While prosthetic eyes were made of glass before World War II, most are formed with acryilic materials today.
Erickson, 58, and Cranmore, 36, make their patients' eyes together. While Cranmore says he has friends who could never work with their mothers, both Erickson and Cranmore say they love collaborating on a project that takes 30 to 40 hours to complete.
"It's helpful to have someone come in who hasn't been staring at (an eye) for an hour and a half and say, 'Oh, you're missing this color' or 'I think you need to start again,' which thankfully doesn't happen that often," Cranmore joked.
Despite being a very specialized field, it's not in danger of losing professionals. Similar to Erickson and Cranmore's business, the art form tends to be passed down within families. Members of the American Society of Ocularists are mostly second-, third- and fourth-generation ocularists.
Most patients seek a prosthetic eye -- which costs around $3,000 -- after an accident or disease such as cancer or diabetes. Erickson says more people lose their eyes to disease than injuries today, but she has seen accidents involving bungee cords, golf balls and rocks flying out of lawn mowers.
"There's still the typical 'Christmas Story' of the BB gun injuries," she added.
Less than 1% of the population requires an ocular prosthesis, according to Boehm, who says she often sees people in public who could benefit from one.
"I think there are a lot of people out there that don't realize they would be a good candidate for an ocular prosthesis, and they don't realize that's something they can get," she says.
Marysville, Washington, resident J.D. Blackwell, who lost an eye in a skiing accident 16 years ago, recently got a prosthetic eye from Erickson. He compared his new blue eye to contact lenses.
"When you first get them, you're quite aware of them, but after a while, you don't even notice it," Blackwell says.
In the past few months Blackwell has worn the eye, he's noticed a difference in the way people respond to him. He pointed out one interaction with a Costco employee stationed at the exit.
"About 10 feet before I got to her, she gasped and said, 'Oh, my God, you've got the most gorgeous blue eyes,' " he recounts while laughing.
Erickson wishes no one needed her talents but says she's honored when patients let her into their lives to aid the healing process.
"It's an amazing thing to be able to be a part of somebody's life and that transformation from the tragedy, the grief ... and for us to be able to just heal, pray and love them through it," Erickson says. "And also (give them) a dang good-looking eye."
Ocularists Number Only A Few Hundred In The Country
By Stephanie Steinberg, Special to CNN
(CNN) -- Most craftsmen bask in glory when others admire and gush over their art, but a compliment is the last thing Christie Erickson wants.
"I don't want the general public to know what I do is fake," Erickson says. "It's best if it's not noticed at all."
Erickson is an ocularist, or trained technician who makes prosthetic eyes. While some call it a skill, Erickson says recreating the "personality," "emotion" and "sparkle" conveyed in a person's eye is an art.
Each eye "tells a story and reflects a lot," Erickson explains.
Erickson and her son Todd Cranmore are two of the six ocularists in the state of Washington and among the few hundred in the country. Because no school teaches ocularistry, people who want to enter the profession must spend 10,000 hours, or five years, of apprenticeship to become certified.
The career blends the fields of art and science -- as only people with a creative side and anatomical knowledge can duplicate the organ that gives the gift of sight.
Painting the pupil is a difficult part of the crafting process. "It's really hard to paint something round," Erickson says.
It's a common misconception that prosthetic eyes are made of glass, but they're actually designed using acrylic materials and paint. The only nonacrylic piece is the silk thread placed on the eye's surface to simulate veins.
Today, no member of the American Society of Ocularists, which includes 200 professional ocularists in the United States and Canada, makes glass eyes, according to Christine Boehm, the society's education chairwoman. She explained that acrylic eyes last longer, fit easier and can better match the color of the original eye.
"There aren't many people left who make glass eyes," says Boehm, who has been an ocularist for more than 25 years in Toronto.
The art of eye making dates back to the fifth century B.C., when Romans and Egyptians painted clay eyes and wore them over eye sockets. In the 1500s, the Venetians crafted blown-glass eyes that could be worn inside the sockets, but the globes were uncomfortable and sometimes shattered.
It wasn't until World War II that eye makers switched from glass to acrylic, because Americans couldn't import glass from Germany. To their delight, ocularists found acrylic eyes didn't break like glass ones and the material was more flexible to mold. For several decades, stock eyes were mass produced as a one-size-fits-all concept. But production has since evolved into the handmade craft of today that brings makers and patients together to custom fit the perfect eye.
Erickson can spend four days making an eye look real. "It's a challenge, but I do enjoy a challenge," she says.
Erickson, who has crafted prosthetic eyes for 30 years, took up the trade after her son Tim lost his eye in an accident. Tim, who was 3 years old at the time, was watching his father fix a tractor when a bolt flew off into his eye. Tim was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, but the eye was damaged beyond repair.
The Ericksons decided to get Tim a prosthetic eye before he entered kindergarten so kids wouldn't taunt him about his shrunken and callused eye.
"We wanted him of course to be whole again and have nobody notice it," Erickson says, adding that she would have traded places with her son if she could have.
"You're watching your child go through this, you'd give anything to have it be yourself instead of them," she says.
After agonizing over Tim's lost sight and overcoming the pain by seeing him "made whole" again, Erickson decided she wanted to help others erase the suffering she had felt. Erickson apprenticed in between raising four kids, and eight years later she had her professional ocularist license.
Erickson's younger son Todd tossed around the idea of attending medical school, but ultimately decided to follow his mother's path and become an ocularist. The two run Erickson Labs Northwest in Kirkland, Washington, where thousands of patients have come through their doors.
While prosthetic eyes were made of glass before World War II, most are formed with acryilic materials today.
Erickson, 58, and Cranmore, 36, make their patients' eyes together. While Cranmore says he has friends who could never work with their mothers, both Erickson and Cranmore say they love collaborating on a project that takes 30 to 40 hours to complete.
"It's helpful to have someone come in who hasn't been staring at (an eye) for an hour and a half and say, 'Oh, you're missing this color' or 'I think you need to start again,' which thankfully doesn't happen that often," Cranmore joked.
Despite being a very specialized field, it's not in danger of losing professionals. Similar to Erickson and Cranmore's business, the art form tends to be passed down within families. Members of the American Society of Ocularists are mostly second-, third- and fourth-generation ocularists.
Most patients seek a prosthetic eye -- which costs around $3,000 -- after an accident or disease such as cancer or diabetes. Erickson says more people lose their eyes to disease than injuries today, but she has seen accidents involving bungee cords, golf balls and rocks flying out of lawn mowers.
"There's still the typical 'Christmas Story' of the BB gun injuries," she added.
Less than 1% of the population requires an ocular prosthesis, according to Boehm, who says she often sees people in public who could benefit from one.
"I think there are a lot of people out there that don't realize they would be a good candidate for an ocular prosthesis, and they don't realize that's something they can get," she says.
Marysville, Washington, resident J.D. Blackwell, who lost an eye in a skiing accident 16 years ago, recently got a prosthetic eye from Erickson. He compared his new blue eye to contact lenses.
"When you first get them, you're quite aware of them, but after a while, you don't even notice it," Blackwell says.
In the past few months Blackwell has worn the eye, he's noticed a difference in the way people respond to him. He pointed out one interaction with a Costco employee stationed at the exit.
"About 10 feet before I got to her, she gasped and said, 'Oh, my God, you've got the most gorgeous blue eyes,' " he recounts while laughing.
Erickson wishes no one needed her talents but says she's honored when patients let her into their lives to aid the healing process.
"It's an amazing thing to be able to be a part of somebody's life and that transformation from the tragedy, the grief ... and for us to be able to just heal, pray and love them through it," Erickson says. "And also (give them) a dang good-looking eye."
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
FIREWORKS AND FAKE EYE
I posted this story for two reasons. I hate fireworks because I had several blow up on me and I have a fake eye so I know what this young boy lives with.
He now has one eye, but a sharp view: Don't handle fireworks
Thomas Eldershaw Jr. is flanked by his folks, Renee and Tom, who nursed him to health…
Using a tiny suction cup, Thomas Eldershaw Jr. took out the prosthetic that now passes for his left eye.
This was in a recent interview at Wills Eye Institute. Eldershaw last year did something thousands of Americans do every Independence Day: He lit the fuse on a firework. But instead of a light show, his life was changed forever.
The tennis-ball sized firework, launched from a mortar tube, hit him square in the eye, nearly splitting it in two. He's since undergone multiple surgeries, sat through dozens of doctor's appointments and spent tens of thousands of dollars on out-of-pocket costs.
And he's now blind in his left eye.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
