Prostheses fitting sessions take place on the spot as outpatient treatments, therefore they require no hospitalization. No specific diet before a session is required either, but we suggest you to have a light meal and not to drink alcohol. We also recommend you to avoid tiring activities or demanding travels and to get enough sleep. This way, the tissues of your ocular adnexa will be in the ideal condition for the fitting procedures.

During the first one-hour appointment, our staff will:

• Check your medical history

• Register your personal, health and surgery data

• Analyze your anophthalmic socket or sub-atrophic eye parameters

• Plan your prosthesis fitting session and provide you the informative leaflet

• Prepare the estimate of costs you will submit to ASL or INAIL.

The fitting session consists in multiple phases. On the first day, you have to remain at doctors’ disposal respectively for 2 or 3 hours both in the morning and the afternoon.

Then, by 6 p.m., you will receive your temporary prosthesis. It takes a few more steps to get to the final one, so we suggest our out-of-town patients to stay at least a couple of days in the city in order to comfortably complete the whole session – temporary prosthesis plus final prosthesis.

We also recommend you to follow your appointment schedule to avoid technical problems or delays in other patients’ sessions.

For Italian citizens, the costs of all services related to our prostheses – except for periodic checks – are completely at the expense of the Italian NHS.

Patients who cannot take advantage of the NHS agreement will pay their prostheses according to the current price list.

The final prosthesis is under warranty for 12 months. The warranty includes: the editing of shape and color defects on patient’s request – if the anatomical and morphological features of both their socket and ocular adnexa make it possible, plus the first prosthesis check within 12 months after the end of the fitting procedures. Please note that our staff will verify every single defect before making any change to your prosthesis.

In order to take advantage of the NHS agreement, you have to provide us:

• Your legal disability certificate or at least a declaration confirming your status – Recommended

• Your ophthalmologist prescription – Required

• Your health card – Required

• Your medical record or the hospital discharge letter reporting your eye surgery description – Recommended

Fitting procedures are not painful, and so performed with no anesthesia. Nonetheless, you could feel a mild discomfort during the first adjustment phases or in case of later significant changes of the prosthesis shape.

Patients suffering from flu, allergies or any other disease involving the ocular mucosa have to avoid prosthetic eye fitting sessions. As a matter of fact, the conditions of the edematous tissues and the abundant secretion due to the above-mentioned diseases may change the prosthesis adjustment.

Patients suffering from serious infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, etc. must immediately inform our staff of their health condition.

Your relatives and helpers are always welcome, but during fitting sessions they are asked to stay in our waiting rooms. As a matter of fact, only one person is allowed to enter the treatment rooms with the patient.

The access of animals to our locations is not allowed – except for blind patients’ guide dogs.

A conformer is an acrylic protective shell used after surgery to keep the eye socket size unchanged, preventing it from shrinking rapidly.

Yet, surgeons could opt for not fitting it; in this case, eyelids efficiency and the socket size would not be compromised, but it would be necessary to fit the temporary prosthesis as soon as possible.

If the conformer accidentally comes out of the socket, you can easily reinsert it after having carefully cleaned it with the specific prosthesis care products.

All prosthetic aids produced in our laboratories are made of an acrylic resin called Poly(methyl methacrylate), which is an unbreakable, inert, and non-allergenic polymer fully biocompatible with human tissues.

Methacrylate cannot be deteriorated by tears, is not porous, is corrosion resistant and does not absorb any substances. As a result, no cases of allergic reactions to this acrylic resin have ever been reported among our patients.

Prostheses should be removed at least once a week to have a deep cleaning of the eye socket, and obviously when requested by ophthalmologists. They must be cleaned and disinfected daily with the specific products available in all our locations. You can find more information about their use on the leaflet that our staff will provide you together with the temporary prosthesis. It is a good habit to clean your prosthesis every morning and every evening without removing it, just by using eye drops or artificial tears that you can instill directly on it. In case of flu or similar diseases, secretion increases and the prosthesis gets dirty more easily; therefore, you will need to clean it more often – even several times a day.
An improper or completely absent care of the prosthesis can cause tissues irritation, poor tolerability and risk of infection. To improve eyelids sliding, you can use a specific lubricating solution – available in drops or gel.

In order to maintain a good hygiene, we recommend you to have both your prosthesis and eye socket checked at least once a year. During a prosthesis check, it gets polished and disinfected in a one-hour process, which can take place at all our locations. Please bear in mind that prosthesis checks DO NOT REPLACE ophthalmologist examinations, and that their costs are at your expense.

Prostheses can be worn throughout the whole day, including the nighttime – except for sub-atrophic eye shells that should be removed before going to sleep. They do not limit everyday life activities, since patients can drive, wear makeup, and practice both traditional and underwater sports.

However, there are some changes and drawbacks that you have to bear in mind:

• during the first days of monocular vision, you will experience some troubles perceiving the correct position of the objects placed in front of you – for instance, you will not be able to catch a glass on a table on your first attempt. This phenomenon is due to the lack of stereoscopic vision and the subsequent loss of depth of field. This situation can last from a few days to a few weeks, and tends to disappear automatically as the new visual information reaches your brain and gets processed by it.
• The lack of one eye will force you to make head movements towards the corresponding blind area, in order to compensate the loss of both distance perception and visual field. As an example, you will find yourself compelled to move your head towards the door or the rear mirror while driving a car.
• After an enucleation surgery, sometimes lacrimation may decrease and consequently reduce both the socket and the prosthesis lubrication. In less serious cases, you can obviate the problem by using eye drops or artificial tears – available in drops or gel; in more serious cases, if the dysfunction tends to become chronic, we recommend you to have a more thorough eye examination.
• Prostheses usually stimulate the abundant secretion of the eye socket. If your socket keeps on secreting despite the removal of the prosthesis and the subsequent cleaning of both the prosthesis and the socket – as shown by these videos, we recommend you to have a more thorough eye examination.

Monocular vision causes discomfort and requires extra attention, especially to evaluate both the distance from front vehicles and the visual field coming from the damaged side – which is obviously compromised. Since 2010, for organic or functional monocular patients, it is no longer necessary to get the “Special B” driving license; yet, you need to assess your fitness to drive through a specific clinical examination. If you are concerned, you can apply to ASL doctors, ACI bureaus or similar agencies, driving schools, etc., presenting a certificate drafted by your ophthalmologist that states:

• The overall assessment of your visual capabilities
• Your clinical steadiness with specific respect to the at-least-six-months-presence of monocular vision
• The lack of defects within 30 degrees off the central axis of your visual field.

This certificate is valid for 3 months and has to be submitted to an entitled doctor, who will grant the license renewal according to the paragraph A.3.4 of Annex III of the Legislative Decree no. 59 of 2011.

If the standards reported in the certificate are not sufficient to get the fitness to drive, you will be asked to undergo a further visit of the Local Medical Committee.