An
ocular prosthesis,
artificial eye or
glass eye is a type of
craniofacial prosthesis that replaces an absent natural
eye following an
enucleation,
evisceration, or
orbital exenteration. The
prosthesis fits over an orbital implant and under the
eyelids. Often referred to as a
glass eye, the ocular prosthesis roughly takes the shape of a convex shell and is made of medical grade plastic
acrylic. A few ocular prostheses today are made of
cryolite glass. A variant of the ocular prosthesis is a very thin hard shell known as a
scleral shell which can be worn over a damaged or eviscerated eye. Makers of ocular prosthetics are known as
ocularists. An ocular prosthesis does
not provide vision; this would be a
visual prosthesis. Someone with an ocular prosthesis is totally
blind on the affected side and has monocular (one sided)
vision.