About Eyes Alive - Beryl Carvalho - Eyes Alive

Who is Beryl Carvalho Eyes Alive

I am Beryl Carvalho Eyes Alive and the vision of my business was initially to assist those who needed an artificial eye, or ocular prosthesis as we call them, in an ethical and friendly manner. It was to produce a high quality standard and not compromise on the job for the sake of the patients’ eye health and comfort. This vision has not changed over the many years I’ve been in practice.

I believe that this business has been entrusted to me as its guardian and that the patients that are seen here are given the extra detail and special care needed in producing and fitting an ocular prosthesis of the highest grade acrylic with the finest moulding and curing methods strictly adhered to. I believe that working with artificial eyes is a gift and that I have been given this gift in order to assist patients.

We specialise in custom designed, hand crafted eye prostheses individually designed for each patient. These take much longer to produce and cost quite a lot more than a stock eye taken from a box but are really the ‘top-of-the-range’ prosthetic eyes around. We work with patients who have lost an eye through injury, disease and the like as well as patients who have a blinded, shrunken eye where we fit a scleral shell eye prosthesis. This is an artificial eye that is like a giant contact lens that fits over the white of the eye and not just the cornea. We do fit stock eyes when needed and carry a range of stock eye prostheses for the patients who cannot afford a custom designed eye prosthesis.

I come from a background in eyes and even before I began making prosthetic eyes I was fascinated with the profession. I was not fortunate enough to be afforded a tertiary education and had always wanted to be a surgeon. When I started working, my first job was as a receptionist to a prominent Optometry practice in Johannesburg, where they ran their own contact lens laboratory and I was involved in training of patients on insertion and removal techniques for contact lenses, as well as working with them in the laboratory. I’ve also worked as an optical dispenser, fitting and adjusting spectacles. My second job was a little more of the same but more in-depth work directly with the patients. I also worked as a rep, selling contact lenses to Optometrists, which was fun for a while but really didn’t suit my personality in the long run as I became bored.

It was at my first job that I became interested in prosthetic eyes and the manufacture and fitting of them but the field is so small that I did not hope to get into it as an existing Ocularist would need to train me.

It was while I was overseas during a stretch of missionary work that I got the call to make prosthetic eyes and an old friend trained me in the art and I began working as an Ocularist in 1990 and have not regretted the decision since. I started Eyes Alive in 1994 and met my current husband shortly thereafter. In 1995 I trained Pedro to work as an Ocularist and while he is now a fully qualified Ocularist in his own right, we work better together when we each have defined roles. Pedro now manages Eyes Alive and I manufacture and fit all the patients’ eye prostheses. So, while we are 2 Ocularists in the practice, you will receive detailed, individual attention from myself when coming to have an eye prosthesis made at Eyes Alive.