One of the most exciting aspects of the silicone ocular prosthesis that all Ocularists and medical professionals should be informed about are the life changing benefits for pediatric patients. With the use of a safe, topical “growing” oil application, the Flexiglass™ eye can actually be made to expand to fill the pediatric patient's eye socket.
Even though the eyes of a baby may appear enormous, infants are not in reality born with full-sized eyes at infancy. The size of the human eye is most often measured and evaluated using the anteroposterior length. This length averages 17.3mm at birth and typically increases to an average 20mm by year one and 22mm by year three. However, the human eyes will eventually stop growing usually between the ages of 8 and 13 years at an average length of 23mm (Vaughan and Asbury, 1986; Fledelius and Christensen, 1996).
Therefore, one can quickly see that the advantages of having an eye grow with the pediatric patient are quite significant. When an ocular prosthesis inadequately compensates for the space of an eye socket; the socket will inevitably contract and deform resulting in an unsatisfactory cosmesis. This inadequate cosmesis can continue into adulthood and possibly require many grueling and unnecessary surgeries to properly correct.
The Flexiglass™ System, which is used to create the Flexiglass™ Pediatric Growing Eye, is currently available to all Ocularists for use by their patients.