Dig Deeper

The nitty gritty of everything about artificial eyes

Polishing and Maintenance

Polishing and Maintenance

An artificial eye needs to be polished every 6 months to a year, depending on each person’s body chemistry. Some people’s bodies don’t like the plastic being in their socket, so they tend to have more dryness and discharge in the socket which causes the prosthesis to get dirty faster, while others can go years without any visible buildup on the prosthesis.


The discharge buildup is a protein plaque (your teeth have a bacterial plaque that you brush off). When you have tears and discharge in the socket, this plaque can buildup on the surface of the prosthesis. As this protein plaque coats the eye it is actually beneficial as it provides a slick surface for your lids to glide over, and it acts like a protective barrier between the plastic and the tissues of the socket. 


However, over time this buildup continues to accumulate which can cause the surface of the prosthesis to become rough and dry. When this happens the tissues in the socket become irritated and the body produces more discharge and tears to help alleviate the irritation. However, this only causes more discharge to buildup on the prosthesis thus causing more irritation. It’s a vicious cycle. 


To stop the cycle, a thorough cleaning in the office is required to buff out the plaque buildup and return the prosthesis to its original shine. This appointment is also an opportunity for your ocularist to examine the socket for any issues and to check the fit of your prosthesis. 


Artificial tears can also be very beneficial in preventing the ‘vicious cycle’ from starting… but that’s a whole other blog post. 


Check out this video of Emily polishing an eye to see what we do behind the scenes to clean the discharge buildup off of an artificial eye.



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