STORY: How I Became Interested In Ocularistry!

One evening, at age 15, I was holding my youngest sister–six week old Julie–in my arms and was wondering what color her eyes really were. She was not opening her eyes well at that time and thus my curiosity on finding out just what color they were for sure. So to accomplish my goal, I carefully placed Julie’s head under a table lamp shade so as to have plenty of light, then opened her right eye lids and gazed at her iris…it was deep blue with an absolutely black pupil toward its center. I then rotated her head so as to focus the light on her left eye, then opened her lids, duplicating what I had just done with her right eye. Her left iris was also deep blue; but this time, the pupil—instead of being black–appeared to be a brilliant, multi-faceted diamond—WHITE! Hmmm! I thought, “this isn’t right.” So I rotated her head out of the direct light causing her left pupil to then appear black…then rotated her head back into the light, causing the brilliant, white diamond to reappear!

Concerned that something was amiss, I searched the house until I found my dad, explaining to him that I had found something that he immediately had to come and see! He followed me into the room with the lamp. Again holding my sister in my arms, I focused the light on her left eye/iris until my father admitted that he could see the reason for my concern—a white pupil!

The next morning, my parents took Julie to see the family ophthalmologist on an emergency basis. After waiting for some time, the doctor invited my parents with Julie into one of his treatment rooms. After examining Julie’s eyes very carefully, he sat back on his chair and explained very bluntly that my sister apparently had a tumor that filled her entire left eyeball (globe) and that he thought it had probably escaped the globe through her optic nerve and was moving into her brain. He explained that they were most likely too late to save her life! Nevertheless, he counseled my parents to immediately take Julie over to the hospital; that he would be over within the half-hour to surgically remove the globe and optic nerve–and thus the tumor–in an effort to save her life.

My parents took Julie straight to the hospital…during the surgery, the surgeon pushed back on the optic nerve so as to take as much of it, along with the globe, as possible in an effort to get all of the tumor. Afterward, the enucleated globe with optic nerve was sent to pathology for verification of the diagnosis…turned out to be a malignant tumor called Retinoblastoma…and yes, the surgeon got it all thus saving my sister’s life!

So my parents had taken my sister to the doctor’s office to check out the reason for a white pupil in the left eye, and had come home with my sister having had her left eye enucleated! My parents, and actually, the whole family, were crushed emotionally! At that time, we didn’t know for sure if Julie would live. And a big question loomed…NOW what?

The ‘Now What?’ question was answered by the doctor who explained that in approximately three months, the best ‘artificial eye-fitter’ (Ocularist) in the entire western United States would be passing through Salt Lake City, where we lived at the time, and that he would fit my sister with a beautiful artificial (prosthetic) eye.

When that time finally came, I was most interested in going along to see how this ‘eye’ would be made and how it would look! We went to the address given us by the doctor’s office…a cheap, broken down motel…and knocked on the ocularist’s door. A short fellow with a German accent opened the door and asked what we wanted. After my father told him who we were and what we were there for, he explained that we should come back in a few hours, at which time, he would have my sister’s ‘new eye’ ready.

I was skeptical!

I could see past the fellow into his room which was very dark. Because of the darkness, all I could see of the interior was a lathe with two lighted shields. In my mind, I was thinking such thoughts as, “how was he going to match the artificial eye to my sister’s real eye if she were not there?”, and, “how could he ‘manufacture’ it so fast?”

We left, returning a few hours later.

This time, the fellow invited us into his dark motel room. On a table beside his lathe, lay a very large plastic, blue eye (prosthesis). (At the time, I wondered if he had either pre-made or purchased it, and had simply taken it out of a box!) I thought it was huge, and that there was no way it would fit Julie’s eye socket. Sure enough, try as he might, the fellow could not get the shape into my sister’s socket. So he began to ‘whittle’ on it with his lathe, removing bits here and there. After an hour or so of continual ‘whittling’ or modification, he finally got the shape to stay in my sister’s socket.

“There you are,” he said!

I was shocked as I looked at her with the prosthesis in her socket! Her lids were popped wide open, the iris was the wrong color of blue, the wrong size, and the gaze of the eye was way up and out instead of with that of her seeing eye!

Surely this was NOT the final product!

“Oh yes!” he said.

“Will it ever match the other eye?” dad asked, being diplomatic. He said, “Don’t worry, she’ll grow into it…”!

I didn’t believe a word of it!

For Julie’s first 13 years of life, this ocularist fiddled with her prosthesis from time to time when he traveled through the area, trying to make it better…never could! If my sister thought that you were looking at her, she would raise her hand and place it over her left eye, then duck her head…she did not want anyone looking at her…seeing her eye! Even family members! This emotional response was indicative of her everyday reality…at school, home, church, anywhere, EVERYWHERE! This is what caused me to start considering…wondering…that if I could find a more accurate, better way to fit and create an ocular prosthesis, then I might venture. After all, I was actually a budding artist and was highly focused on portraiture and ‘eyes’!

Many years later, this experience with my sister Julie led me to an Internship with the ‘Father of Modern Day Ocularistry’, Lee Allen and his partner David Bulgarelli, in Iowa City, Iowa. After interning, I and my family moved to Mesa, Arizona where I opened a practice specializing in ocular and facial prosthetics—The Eye Concern, Inc. Three of my children…Cameran, Starla and Trentan, all Diplomates of the ASO/College of Ocularistry…are extending and enlarging the practice, allowing me to retire after 46 years in the field.