Abstract
Scleral shells are craniofacial prosthetics that covers blind, painless unsightly eyes. The first scleral shell was made of glass in 1887 by Muller for a patient who lost most of his eyelids due to skin cancer in order to keep the eye lubricated. Subsequently, Dr. Fick used scleral shells to restore cosmesis to disfigured blind eyes. After World War II, acrylic was used in the manufacturing of these shells as an alternative to glass shells that were mainly made in Germany. Scleral shells are routinely made by a board-certified ocularist and are technically more difficult to make than regular post-enucleation prostheses because of their thinner profile. Multiple sessions are needed to fabricate the scleral shell taking into consideration many factors that would affect the final design such as tear flow, lid height and contour, and corneal shape and curvature. Regular follow-ups with both an ophthalmologist and ocularist are required for shell maintenance, proper fitting, and prevention of complications.
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Al-Sadah, Z.M. (2020). Scleral Shells. In: Johnson, T. (eds) Anophthalmia . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29753-4_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29753-4_22
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