prosthetic eye, ocular prosthesis, aesehtic anophthalmiaAnophthalmia is the absence of an eye. It is a condition that can be congenital (born without an eye) or acquired (loss of an eye from trauma, disease, etc.). Lack of an eye not only leads to an abnormal function of the eyelid and socket, but also to an abnormal appearance.

The traditional approach to anophthalmia surgery is correction of the functional components of the eyelid and surrounding areas and creating the ability to wear a fake eye (ocular prosthesis). But this type of surgery is generally never approached with aesthetics in mind. Guy Massry, MD specializes in correcting the eyelid and socket deficiencies associated with anophthalmia in not only a functional approach, but with aesthetics in mind as well. This dual approach provides his patients with the best possible results and allows the ocular prosthesis to appear as close to normal as possible

It is always Dr. Massry’s goal to make his anophthalmic patients look as natural as possible. He does this by applying the same cosmetic surgery principles he uses for his aesthetic ophthalmic plastic surgery patients.

This young man suffered the loss of his left eye due to trauma in an assault. He now has a prosthetic eye on the left side. In the before picture (picture left), you can see his left brow has fallen down, as have his left upper and lower lids. His right under eye is puffy, while his left under eye is hollow. You will also notice his left iris (colored part of the eye) points down. Overall, the eyes look very unequal and his facial appearance has become abnormal. Dr. Massry performed surgery on this patient with function and aesthetics in mind. Looking at the after surgery picture (picture right), you can see that his brows are much more equal now, as are the openings of his eyes. To further enhance this patient’s aesthetic appearance, Dr. Massry performed fat transfer to the lower left eyelid so the two lower lids look balanced now. Dr. Carole Stople is the ocularist who made the beautiful prosthetic eye. As a team, we were able to make this young man much happier and more confident.