Welcome Ophthalmologists and Oculoplastic Surgeons

This site is created as an extension of our services to you and your patients. Its objective is to provide answers to the anticipated questions of what your patients can expect following the surgical procedure. Frequently, we have found that many patients have a greater fear of the unknown (of what will occur during the process of fabricating and fitting the ocular prosthesis), than they have of the actual surgery. As the body heals postoperatively, our patient support page helps to relieve any of the mental anguish your patients may have.

In as much as ocular prostheses are an integral part of the newer motility implants, today's ocularists are an extension of the oculoplastic surgeons' services. We understand that our role as ocularists has expanded significantly as new materials and designs are developed, but, our services extends far beyond the completed prostheses. We thrive to provide a continuum of care and support for our mutual patients throughout the coming years.

Unlike the acquired anomalies, the congenital aberrance of anophthalmos and microphthalmos continues to be a challenging process leading toward the final phase of fitting an ocular or scleral cover shell type prosthesis. We can, once again, describe in succinct terms to the parents what is to be the procedure and process involved with stem conformers (with or without pressure applied), but the actual time involved to get to the end result is an indefinite term. Each case referral can only be judged at the time of the initial evaluation by the ocularist. It is quite imperative that all means at the disposal of the ocularist should be attempted to create fornices and expand the palpebral fissure prior to any consideration of surgical intervention. At this juncture, it is a prerequisite that a team concept of oculoplastic surgeon/ocularist work together so a predetermined shape and incremental size conformers may be available to enhance the surgical procedure.

Another facet in ocularistry is the impression moulded scleral cover shell prosthesis. Prior to the use of plastic as the material of choice for prostheses, many patients with unsightly eye(s) (blind, scarred disfigured, phthisical) were unable to wear a prosthesis because of the inability to be fit comfortably with a custom glass eye. The patient's option during this pre-plastic era was to either wear dark glasses continuously, or request an enucleation, so a conventional glass eye could be fitted. In this manner, there would be some semblance to their peers. But, gradually as the product changed from glass to plastic, and the technique transpired from empirical fitting to impression moulding, case referrals began to increase, and at this present time 25% of our patient load falls into this category of scleral cover shell prostheses. The advantages of this type prosthesis is: no further disruption of the remaining orbital tissues and adnexa, the prosthesis restores the lost global volume, the flush fit of the shell picks up the responsive movement of the underlying globe, it eliminates the pseudoptosis while restoring cosmesis, and it also alleviates any stress caused by an imbalance of facial symmetry, not to mention the psychological relief of not losing a part of ones body.

We are looking forward to working with you in caring for your referred patients.