Abstract

Introduction: The eye removal surgery is undertaken only when all other eye treatments are ineffective, inappropriate or undesirable. An ocular prosthesis or artificial eye (a type of craniofacial prosthesis) replaces an absent natural eye following an enucleation, evisceration, or orbital exenteration. The prosthesis fits over an orbital implant and under the eyelids.
Objectives: This study aimed to improve the patient aesthetics, point out the need for prosthesis department and to highlight the need for a trained ocularist.
Methods: A descriptive hospital based study was carried out on 12 subjects who underwent enucleation, evisceration and ocular prosthesis fitting recruited from Makkah Eye Complex (MEC), part of Al Basar International Foundation, Al Rayad, Khartoum Sudan. Data was collected, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 25.0.
Results: This study includes 12 participants. All of the study participants had an eye removed because of injury. Only one third (33.3%) had orbital evisceration and the remaining (66.7%) had eye enucleation. According to this study; 58.3% of the participants stated that there was no matching of the artificial eye color with the natural eye color, 16.7% of them noticed buildup of deposits on the prosthetic eye, 41.7% had problems in depth perception, so they faced difficulty in pouring water in a jug or tea in the cup, while 16.7% of them had stopped using the artificial eye within less than one year.
Conclusion and recommendations: Health authority in Sudan should take into account the need for establishment of a prosthetic eye department in Sudan that will provide artificial eye services, a manufacturing and fitting service for the supply of ocular prostheses to all patients throughout the country, in addition to the need for trained ocularists.

Keywords: Orbital exenteration; Eye enucleation; Ocular prosthesis; Artificial eye; Sudan