Page 11 - Artificial Eyes

BIRTH ABNORMALITIES

Congenital Microphthalmia

A birth abnormality where the eye did not complete its development thus resulting in an abnormally small eye.
Congenital Anophthalmia

A birth abnormality where there is complete absence of the eyeball.

Congenital Microphthalmos or Congenital Anophthalmos can be unilateral or bilateral. The child is referred to the ocularist

by a pediatric ophthalmologist.

Depending upon the severity of the birth abnormality, it is often necessary to expand the eye socket(s) by the use of custom-made conformers to

enable the artificial eye to be fitted. If this is required, the child is usually placed under a general anesthetic, at a Children's Hospital, for an
impression to be made of the eye socket. The general anesthetic is usually only required for the initial conformer. The custom acrylic conformer
is fabricated based upon the shape obtained from the impression and is fitted in the ocularist's office with the child awake.

Several weeks later a larger conformer replaces the previous one. This helps to initiate the expansion process of the eye socket and is continued

until the eye socket is of enough size to accommodate a custom-made eye prosthesis. It is preferred to see the child as young as possible to start
the expansion process. Two months of age is common. The time taken to expand the eye socket for the provision of the prosthesis is very much
an individual matter, however, it may be as short as 2 months or as long as one year or more.

Microphthalmos and Anophthalmia are rare congenital abnormalities. Resources on this subject are limited; however, a parental support group is

available at MAPS