It's quite straightforward, we go in, they take out the old eye using this little plunger (see below!) and then Sylvia, his prosthetist has usually ordered in an eye that should be the right colour, then she uses the old eye to mark the rough shape and then uses this huge machine that reminds of me of wood tech classes at school to file it down and shape it. It usually takes a few attempts and putting it in and out to get it just right. At our first visit, it was quite scary because we'd never seen Jacob without an eye in and when she took it out, I got really upset because it validated that there really is nothing there. I don't think I really believed it until I saw it. It wasn't anywhere near as horrifying as I thought it was going to be. It just looks like the inside of your mouth. When the eye is removed, they put an implant into the socket and stitch muscle over the top, then the prosthetic eye is kind of like a big contact lense that just drops into the socket, held in by the eyelid. We've been quite lucky that we don't have to take it out to clean it too often, we will have to eventually, more so that Jacob gets used to it and can learn to do it himself. The Royal London Hospital hold "Eye Club" where all the older children with artificial eyes go to gain confidence and learn about how to deal with their eye. I'll defiantly be sending Jacob along when he's old enough.
Jacobs eye that he got today is a much better colour match as it has been five months since his last one, and his own eye has changed so much since then!
I thought I'd show a picture of how Jacob looks when he doesn't have an eye in as a lot of people ask me what it looks like! If you are squeamish, you might not want to look! To us, it doesn't look that bad, but we are used to it! It still makes my mum go a bit funny even after she's seen it a few times!
We stopped off to feed the ducks on the way as we left a lot earlier than usual! This is one of my favourite outfits of Jacobs, he's wearing a Little Bird by Jools tshirt and Next Dungarees with his little Vans.
A better look at Jacobs outfit.
Posing for a blog photo!
Not for the squeamish!
Trying to keep him entertained!
The huge machine that makes the teeny little eyes!
My big brave boy.
This is the best before and after shot I could get as he isn't a fan of sitting still! But the colour is so much better and it's a better size. Hopefully he can't pop this one out!
Jacobs "eye kit". The eye is the one he had removed today and replaced with a new one and the little orange thing is the "sucker" that we have to use to take his artificial eye out.
Hope this blog has answered any little wonders you had about artificial eyes! If you've got any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below! x
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