Some quick facts about prosthetic eyes

My skin journey - Kiley Brydon

EYE CENTRE - PRIMECARE partners with the NZ PROSTHETIC EYE SERVICE to make, fit and maintain prosthetic eyes worn by 146 Northland patients

The earliest known prosthetic eye was found buried with a woman in Shahr-I Sokhta, Iran. It dated back to 2900-2800 BC and was made of bitumen paste covered with a thin layer of gold, engraved with a central iris from which lines radiated out like the rays of the sun.

Published with kind permission of Kaveh Farrokh at http://kavehfarrokh.com

There are approximately 3,000 prosthetic eye wearers in New Zealand. Eye-loss is due to accidents (61%), medical conditions (30%) and congenital disorders (9%). Men lose their eyes more frequently than women (62% versus 38%) and at a younger age (median for men is 22 years and women 56 years). Right eyes are lost marginally more frequently than left eyes. (55% versus 45%).

The cost of prosthetic eyes is mostly covered by the hospital where the eye is removed or by ACC if caused by accident. Replacements are subsidised by the Ministry of Health and/or by private health insurance.

Prosthetic eye research:

Northland's prosthetic eye wearers have punched way above their weight when it comes to helping with prosthetic eye research. Along with other New Zealanders, they have contributed to more scientific papers than any other group of prosthetic eye wearers in the world. Some, like Mona Davies even feature in the world's first evidence based textbook on prosthetic eyes.

Mona Davies:

"When my husband Reese and I were fencing contractors, we moved around a lot and lived in tents on the properties we worked on. In 1974 we were clearing old fencing wire from a kiwifruit orchard. I cut a wire and one end sprang up and struck my right eye."

Mona is a farmer (emphatically not just a 'farmer's wife'!). She with her late husband Reese has worked hard all her life and now lives comfortably on an 800 acre coastal farm on Taiharuru Peninsular. Their two children farm their own coastal blocks on either side of Mona's land and not a day goes by when Mona does not see them or her three grandchildren.

Mona took the loss of her eye like she does with most things in life, "she put up with it and moved on." It wasn't the damage to her appearance that concerned her so much as the difficulty she had parking the car and reading the ground hollows when going about the farm.