Adjusting to your new eye replacement, both physically and emotionally, takes time. With time, you will become accustomed to wearing your ocular prosthesis. There are many things you can do to make yourself more comfortable with your prosthesis.
Your socket will need time to adjust to the presence of a prosthesis. When you first get your prosthesis, you may want to wear it only a few hours a day at first, and slowly increase wear time. If you are wearing a prosthesis over an existing eye, the process of building up wear time is generally slower. Your ocularist will describe a program that is best for you. Also, your eyelids may fit tightly over the prosthesis at first, making the insertion of the prosthesis more difficult. Over time this should go away as your eyelids adjust to the prosthesis. Sometimes, because of surgery or injury to the eye, the eyelid may droop over the ocular prosthesis or not function at all. There are a variety of solutions to this problem which include exercises, corrective lenses, or surgery. Any problems can be discussed at the primary fitting.
The prosthesis will not move as well as the natural eye, or may not move at all. The degree of movement you have with a prosthesis depends on the type of surgery you had, and how well the prosthesis fits into your socket. Your custom prosthesis is made in such a way to fit your eye socket as well as possible, but many people with custom prostheses still have limited movement. By making simple changes in your posture, you can disguise the lack of movement in your prosthesis. When you talk to someone, turn your face completely towards that person rather than look sideways. If you are shorter or taller than the other person, turn your face up or down so that you are looking directly into their face. In general, turning your head more frequently will help you to compensate for a smaller field of vision. This will allow you to see more.
After eye surgery some people have eye sockets that aren't symmetrical placed within the bony structure of their faces. In these cases, eyeglasses can do wonders in visually making the eyes look even. If you have this problem, choose glasses with a strong line or horizontal design across the top. Have your optician adjust the arms of the eyeglasses so that the top edge of the glasses are equal distances above your upper eyelids. The result is that you will have glasses that are slightly uneven on your head, but will appear even in relation to your eyes. This is generally a preferred cosmetic result. Your optometrist or optician may also use prisms in your eyeglasses to make one eye appear higher, lower, larger, or smaller.
Be careful with how you wipe your eyes. Always wipe from the outside edge to the inside corner.
Wiping the opposite way may cause your prosthesis to fall out. If you swim, while diving or underwater be sure to keep your eyes closed or wear goggles. Watch out for surf when swimming in the ocean.
Your remaining eye needs to be cared for. It now has to do the job of two eyes, and must be protected. If you don't wear glasses now, you should consider getting a set of safety glasses. These have the appearance of corrective glasses, but function importantly in protecting your remaining eye.
You and your ocularist want your new prosthesis to be as comfortable and to look as realistic as possible, and every effort will be made to accomplish this. If you see slight imperfections in the color and shape, keep in mind that you and your ocularist look much more carefully at your ocular prosthesis than anyone else.
