#eye prosthetics

[scumgristle]

https://www.instagram.com/centerforocularprosthetics/

[blindbeta]

Hello, sorry for the long ask, but I recently discovered your wonderful blog and was wondering if you would be willing to provide input on an aspect of a writing project I'm working on.

I am working on a sci-fi story where the villains forcibly and non-consensually amputated several characters limbs and replaced them with high tech prosthetics + induce retrograde amnesia so that said characters can't recall their lives pre-surgery (The focus of the villainy is the violation of autonomy and identity, not the quote unquote "horrors" of being disabled). As a part of this, the majority of these characters also had their flesh eyes removed and replaced with a sort of prosthetic eyes that restore some amount of vision through connection to the optic nerve and such (I've been imagining them working adjacent to cameras, but connected to the brain?). Instead of looking like the original flesh eyes, the parts of the prosthetics that mimic irises are a solid color; and the parts that mimic pupils are stylized to resemble elements of the logo of either villain, depending on the individual character, for 'branding' purposes (They also have elements of the logos on the limb prosthetics). (None of the surgery actively happens in story, and all characters are at least a few years out from their operations, so this isn't meant to be an object of gratuitous trauma porn or something of the sort.)

My worry here is that this falls under the 'magical cure' trope, or that this uses disability for aesthetic purposes without further consideration. The concern about the magical cure trope comes up especially for one character, who previously had cataracts. (Another character who had previously been blind purposefully blinds themselves again after receiving their eye prosthetics, because they prefer being blind to being sighted.)

I'm wondering if you would have any input on what I might want to reconsider or change? For example, writing more on complications and/or limitations of the prosthetic eyes, or forgoing the whole prosthetic eye idea altogether. If you have any feedback that would be appreciated, though I'm sure you're busy with other things. Thanks for your time either way, and I love your blog - it's a wonderful resource!

Hi,

Thanks for the ask, anon! Unfortunately I am not able to provide much insight here. I don’t have any prosthetics nor limb differences myself. I’m going to shout out @cripplecharacters for this one due to that. In case you haven’t already sent this to them, that is.

The focus on lack of autonomy and medical trauma could be interesting. However, the cure trope is an issue for me. It is not only in the character with cataracts (which is balanced a bit by the other character who blinds themself again as well as the fact that cataracts are treatable), but also the eye prosthetics themselves. They restore some eyesight, which actual eye prosthetics cannot do yet.

I think for something like this, the execution might be the most significant factor.

[cripplecharacters]

Is the average prosthetic eye realistic enough for people to not realise someone has a fake eye without being told? One of my characters has one, and I was wondering if the MC would likely pick up on them only having one eye on the first meeting. Tysm for answering when you get to this ask:D

Hey,

In my experience (I'm not particularly perceptive) it's hard-to-impossible to tell that someone has a prosthetic eye. There are some "tells", most notably the eye being unaligned and/or lack of coordinated movement between the eyes, but unless you have a reason to believe that it's a prosthetic eye situation, you probably aren't going to assume that. You'd pick up on it, but probably assume strabismus, since that's just much more common.

Another "tell" would be the fact that the pupil doesn't react to light, but you would have to be very close to be able to tell that at all, and probably only if the person had relatively lightly colored eyes.

An example I sometimes bring up when it comes to the visibility/obviousness of prosthetic eyes is Peter Falk (the actor who played Columbo among other things), who had a prosthetic eye for basically all of his life. I still see people say that as a funfact about him, because you really can't tell, even if you're watching him for way longer (big portion of it focused on his face) than you ever would with a person IRL. It really just looks like he had strabismus, not a prosthesis.

TLDR: I would say that unless the MC is very perceptive (or very physically close up) then they wouldn't notice, and if they do then they would likely assume incorrectly.

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

Hello!

One of my teachers in high school had a prosthetic eye. I was in his class every day for the entire school year and I only noticed he had one during the last week of school. Even then, it was only because I was talking to him at his desk and was close enough to notice and actively looking at/analyzing his eyes (I needed to know his eye colour for some reason, can't remember why).

There's some subtle differences between a prosthetic eye and a homegrown eye (the way the light hits it, movement, pupil/iris size and shape, etc.) but unless you're super close and actively looking for it, it's pretty hard to tell.

Somebody noticing during their first meeting with the person (especially if it's just a normal interaction and not a mildly creepy nineth grader staring into their eyes like they held the secrets of the universe) is pretty unlikely.

Even when I noticed my teacher's eye, I don't think I would have clocked it as a prosthetic if I hadn't quite literally asked "why does your eye look like that" and if he hadn't had enough patience to tell me and explain it. My initial thought was that there was just something wrong with his eye.

So yeah, they probably wouldn't pick up on it right away.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[cripplecharacters]

would a cybernetic eye count as curing disabilites? Or would it be like a prosthetic?

I'm writing a series of sci-fi stories where someone gets his eye ripped out, but he also goes on a bunch of adventures, so I'd imagine a cybernetic eye would be pratical for him, but I don't want to completely erase his disability.

Hello,

That depends on what the eye does. If the eye lets him see like his old eye did or lets him see better than his old eye did, that's a disability cure. If it doesn't give him visual input, then it's a prosthetic eye.

Word of advice, creating a new eye means messing with nerves and the brain, that's going to be very complicated and hard to do. You'll have to figure out how to translate the signals from the nonorganic cybernetic eye into the organic signals the eye used to send up the nerve into the occular cortex, which is the back of the brain. No matter how much of the nerve you take out, there is going to be some point where that translation needs to happen. And if the occular nerve is damaged, even if some fantastic communication wiring is attached, there are going to be issues. The nerve can start to degrade, the attachment of the cybernetic wires can cause pain, strain, and some trippy visual input, and part of the brain can even begin to become inactive. Adapting to a cybernetic eye is also going to be a challenge because perfectly recreating the vision in his old eye is going to be basically impossible. And let's not even get into the upkeep, how much of a pain maintaining and fixing a cybernetic eye would be, especially if it can't be removed. And if it attaches to the nerve, it almost certainly cannot be removed. Cybernetic eyes are so complicated that it's just best not to bother.

Instead, I'd advise learning about monocular vision and just having him adapt to only having one eye. That way you aren't accidentally erasing his disability and don't have to figure out how the cybernetic eye will work. It's easier.

Mod Aaron

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! I have a character in the anime world, Boku No Hero Academia who’s had a prosthetic eye since the age of three years old. Right now, he’s 15, turning 16, and gets a prosthetic arm later on in the story—I wanted to ask if these things are okay?

-he often jokes that he’s “turning into a robot” (he does this when he loses his arm)

- When he DOES get a prosthetic arm, Mikumo finds it odd and kind of tedious to use. He figures he can just use his telekinesis to move things around that he can’t reach but that in and of itself makes him sick so his friends are often like “hey, you should wear this” and he’s annoyed but does so specifically when he can’t do things on his own. Since this IS a fighting anime, he does end up wearing it for fights rather than everyday mundane tasks but I’m not sure if that’s okay or not?

-With his eye, after losing it during a training exercise, he doesn’t end up getting a new one and doesn’t seem to care very much. He still has an eyepatch over it because of protection though. My main concern was that I had only figured out the prosthetic eye thing after publishing chapter one and wanted to ask if it’s possible for the eye to appear glossy / and or for the person to close their eye shut alongside the other one? I don’t particularly mention that his eye is any different than a normal one but I’m unsure if that would confuse readers when I write him doing normal stuff with one eyed vision or not? Would he have been used to seeing with one eye that it doesn’t bother him?

- With his prosthetic arm, he learns how to do things with one limb but uses the prosthetic for fighting and fighting only, or just fighting and SOME mundane tasks but he doesn’t exactly like leaving it on all the time, hence why he almost never uses it save for the specific thing mentioned. Is that falling into any tropes?

Hello, I'll try to go point by point. Standard disclaimer that we don't have amputee mods or mods with ocular prosthetics, take everything with a grain of salt.

Robot joke: Yeah, disabled people do that joke, I've heard it IRL a few times.

Prosthetic arm: I'd have to guess that it would be more of a hindrance than help? Depends on amputation level, perhaps. But either way that's a chunk of metal that is heavy and tiring to use, you might as well get a metal socket to hit other people with, genuinely seems more practical and easier to control. Especially if he doesn't have time for a bunch of occupational therapy and just wants to go back to fighting stuff.

Prosthetics eye: how does he lose it? I only ever heard of people losing their prosthetic eye in water with strong current, otherwise I think it would be hard since it's in the person's eye socket and all, you have to get your fingers in there to take it out. Out of curiosity, if it's a result of school activity, will they repay him the cost of his prosthetic? I don't know how Japanese insurance nor law works but in the US a prosthetic eye is 2000$+, if he's 15 his parents would probably kill him for just losing it like that. Not to mention that it would probably feel like losing a part of his body if he has been using it consistently for so long - it doesn't mean he has to want it back ASAP and worry himself sick, but he will need an adjustment period for "oh yeah I don't have that anymore" to actually click.

Technically a prosthetic eye can look in any way since the appearance/colors are just cosmetic, but the "glassy look" is generally associated with glass eyes, which just aren't really a thing anymore. Most prosthetics are acrylic and look exactly like the other eye, you really can't tell which is which (on people who have only one prosthesis) in my experience.

The biggest (and usually only) visual difference is the lacking movement of the prosthetic when compared to the other eye. But in terms of POV writing, 99% of people's first thought will be strabismus rather than a prosthetic eye.

If his prosthetic eye is fit properly he should have no problems with his eyelids, including closing and winking or whatnot. This however will change when he ditches it for an eyepatch as the eyelids will lose their shape. He might have problems using a prosthetic eye later if he just goes with a bare socket and not even a conformer (another thing his parents would probably worry about if he has been using a prosthesis for the past 13 years).

He would have probably gotten used to his monocular vision by that point, he spent his essentially whole life like that. I was born with impaired depth perception and well, I don't know anything else, it's just normal to me. Even if he did have to do some things differently, I don't think he would consider it as "bothering" him, that'd be just how he learned to do it in the first place.

Prosthetic arm again: I can mostly refer you to that post in our pinned about writing characters with an upper limb prosthesis. The thing is, if he's below the elbow, he probably really doesn't need it outside some specific activities that he could have a specialized prosthetic for (there's not that many of these activities). If he doesn't have a residual limb (or has an extremely short one), he is almost definitely not using a prosthetic since it's incredibly hard to control and weighs a ton, two things that don't really help while fighting. He can still kick ass without a prosthetic or even using his residual limb (though I wouldn't recommend punching with the limb if he has a through-bone amputation, it would hurt him more than whoever he was punching). I know that in media every arm amputee is suddenly helpless and immediately loses once they don't have their prosthetic, but that's just the "perfect magic prosthesis/disability as a superpower" BS again. A lot of completely able-bodied characters use one arm in combat, whether they use a gun or a one-handed blade or something else. It's completely possible to fight with one arm.

To figure out if it falls into tropes, you need to research how realistic it would be. He's not wearing his prosthesis 24/7 which is good, but when does he wear it? If it's while [performing activity A], try googling how amputees with the same level of amputation (!) do it. There are articles and Q&As and YouTube instruction videos about everything now - see if real life amputees actually need a prosthesis to [perform activity A]. It could be that he would need it, that he wouldn't at all, or that he wouldn't need it per se but it would speed the process up or whatever. If the conclusion is "yeah he would need it", then it's realistic and not a trope; and if he wouldn't need it, then you now know how he would actually do it. You can also alternatively look at similar resources for people with hemiplegia since it's a more common disability and some or a lot of it might apply to your character as well.

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[cripplecharacters]

Does crying feel any different for those with a prosthetic eye?

Hello!

None of the mods have prosthetic eyes so we can't really speak to how it would feel.

That said, people with prosthetic eyes can generally still cry normally as long as their tear ducts are still functional.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! I had two quick questions about one of my characters.

She lost one of her eyes as a child (she had it removed as a child due to cancer) and now she wears an eye prosthesis. She's a very friendly, outgoing, funny person and she's a fashion designer.

Question 1

I know a lot of people like to customize their canes/wheelchairs/etc. and have them in fun colors, put stickers on them, etc. and since she loves making and wearing tons of fancy, cool outfits, I thought it would be fun if she had customized eye prosthetics.

I've seen ones that look like gemstones, funky patterns, and even smiley faces and that seems like something she would love, but I'm not sure if that would be bad in some way?

I guess I just don't want it to come across as me saying disability aids need to look super cool and crazy or else they're boring? She does have a normal one that she wears most of the time, but sometimes she just likes to have fun with it and wear a wacky colorful one, especially when she's dressing up.

Question 2

She's a very funny person and she loves making jokes and pulling pranks. I know a lot of people with prosthetics like to make jokes with them (for example I've seen one of those "this outfit is super expensive" videos but the twist was that most of the cost came from their prosthetic arm, which they proceeded to swing around inside their shirt).

She's absolutely the kind of person to make those types of jokes, but I want to make sure it doesn't go too far or come off as offensive or rude.

One of the jokes I was thinking about is her pretending to sneeze, popping out the eye, and then going "omg I sneezed so hard my eye fell out!" only to reveal that it's a prosthetic.

Another one would be someone asking her to keep an eye on something and she goes "Yeah man I got this" so she pulls the prosthetic out and sets it down on whatever she's supposed to "keep an eye on".

(Don't worry she's going to clean the prosthesis after setting it on stuff lol).

Hello!

Having custom prosthetic eyes is completely fine and, at least in my opinion, doesn't imply that they need to be cool/fashionable/fun/etc. It's just another way for your character to express herself!

Something to consider, however, (Especially if you're going for realism) is that prosthetic eyes are expensive and, depending on your character's circumstances, her insurance would likely only cover one (And a fairly simple/basic one at that). Custom made prosthetics are always going to be a lot more expensive and a lot less likely to be covered by her insurance.

You mentioned that she's a fashion designer, however... if she has some connections in the fashion community, she may have easier access to those kinds of prosthetics than other people would. Maybe she knows people that make them? Or maybe she can trade favours/designs for them? Either way, it could be a solution or even just an interesting plot avenue to explore.

In response to your second question, writing characters making jokes about their disabilities is fine but you want to be careful about how you go about it -- especially if you're not disabled in that way yourself. It's a bit of a balancing act to make sure your character isn't being written to be the comedic relief (Which is, unfortunately, something that happens with a lot of disabled characters).

Although the jokes seem to be in fine taste, I do have some logistic concerns with them.

For the sneezing one, I'm not sure she'd be able to pop it out that quickly and, if she can, it wouldn't be the best idea. Popping the eye out quickly is a great way to drop and damage it and, as mentioned, they are EXPENSIVE.

Taking the prosthetic eye in and out frequently also increases the likelihood of causing damage to the eye by irritating the socket or turning the eyelashes inward which, trust me, is NOT comfortable. You would also want to be careful with setting it on random objects. Because the prosthetic eye is going directly into the eye socket, you really don't want it to be dirty when you put it back in and if they're out and about, it may not be possible to clean it properly right away.

This isn't to say you can't do this. It could be funny once or twice but doing it regularly could have some not-so-ideal consequences so it's good to keep this stuff in mind.

You didn't ask about this but I'd just like to mention: Be careful about writing self-deprecating jokes about her disability. It can get VERY uncomfortable for your readers very quickly, especially if you don't have that/a similar disability. Honestly, I'd advise that able-bodied writers avoid writing these kinds of jokes for their physically disabled characters in general.

Overall, your character sounds great and very well thought out! I'm glad to see more characters that are blind from illness/medical causes rather than the usual traumatic incident.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! I’m re-workshopping one of my characters right now and could use some help. TW Eye trauma, fire/burn injuries.

When she was 11, she was pushed into a fireplace and burned her face and eyes, and blinding her. I originally had her as losing one eye and having regular vision in the other eye, wearing an eyepatch over the missing eye. I wrote into you asking how you felt about the eyepatch thing and you discouraged it (thanks for that btw /genuine) so I’ve since removed the eyepatch from her design and also made her blind in both eyes.

Here’s where my question comes in. I did some light research on what eyes look like when they suffer burns, and it was mostly images of red scleras. Originally I had her iris color as being red (it’s a fantasy story) as well. Should i change her eye color, so it isn’t red on red? How do i approach this? Do you have any other advice related to approaching this character’s design and how to best represent this part of her backstory?

Hello,

None of us are blind so I recommend you also talk to someone who actually is, but you should know that, assuming she's completely blind, her eyes likely would have been removed due to the damage and risks of infections and complications. If she were to have eyes, they would likely be prosthetics.

I know that @/blindbeta has discussed usual eye colouration before, so I would recommend running this by them

Mod Aaron