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.
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