Welcome Parents and Guardians

s parents ourselves, we can understand the emotions and the questions you may have being a parent of a child who has lost an eye or was born with an eye condition requiring a prosthesis.  This page is designed to provide you with specific answers regarding pediatric ocular prosthetic issues.  Joyce, our resident Pediatric Ocularist, has the most professional experience (over 25 years) in fabricating and fitting ocular prostheses for infants and children.  However, since this is a team effort, Eric and Kurt add their expertise with the procedure by participating in the preliminary impression mould taking in the laboratory or at the hospital out-patient facilities, and contribute with the iris color duplication.

The following are issues unique to pediatric ocular prostheses, please spend a few moments to review the information which is important to your child's condition.  In addition, we have obtained permission to reprint Hints for Parents as published in the VIP Newsletter from Blind Children's Fund.  You may also find My Fake Eye - The Story of My Prosthesis a valuable pictorial book for talking to your youngster about his or her condition.

Some Commonly Asked Questions:

• Why does my child need an ocular prosthesis after an eye loss?
• My child was born with a partially developed (microphthalmic) eye, is it possible to fit a cover shell prosthesis over such a globe?
• Will it be difficult for my child to be fitted with an artificial eye?
• What is the process of getting an ocular prosthesis for my child?
• Is it necessary to return to the ocularist on a regular basis?
• At what age should my child begins to wear an ocular prosthesis?
• Do I need to find a pediatric ocularist or any ocularist will do?
• How sensitive are the tissues under the eyelids when you put the prosthesis in?
• Is it difficult for my child to adapt to wearing the prosthesis?
• How do I help my child care for the prosthesis?
• How do I help my child to remove and reinsert the prosthesis?
• Is there any cautionary advice you can give regarding the prosthesis and my child?

A complete list of all frequently asked questions about ocular prostheses may be found in our FAQ index.  As always, if you need a specific questions answered, please Contact Us.

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