News Letters - Beryl Carvalho - Eyes Alive

What a busy few months we've had here at Beryl Carvalho – Eyes Alive! We have been kept on our toes facing the challenges that come with complex cases. Both Pedro and I love a good challenge though, and we are so lucky to have great working relationships with our patients who understand that what we do is an often complicated process and that the fine art of it all takes quite some doing.

It’s been a busy, but most rewarding few weeks for the Eyes Alive team as Pedro and I not only set sail aboard the wonderful cruise ship MSC Sinfonia, we also spent time in glittering Sun City – all in the name of our work of course!

We were honored with a visit to our practice by Prof Harry Seftel recently. He is such a fascinating man, having achieved so much in his lifetime so far. I can only hope to be half as influential in my lifetime as he’s been over his career. He has been a Professor 3 times over. Has many special interests in medicine and has started and headed up many Associations and Societies over the years. He is still actively involved in medicine today, in his eighties.

Beryl Carvalho, chief Ocularist at Eyes Alive has had the honour of manufacturing and fitting a scleral shell ocular prosthesis (or artificial eye as they are commonly known) for a young 14 year old girl, Malefu Thebekhali, after she was injured in the left eye with a pair of scissors. Malefu attended a youth empowerment launch which was hosted by ABI in Welkom and this chance meeting made it possible for ABI to make a difference in yet another child’s life.

Wishing you and your family a very blessed 2016.
We have had the opportunity to have our website revamped.
Go to our new website and have a look at the video we've posted here on YouTube or you can view it on our home page.
Our website address remains the same of course, www.eyesalive.co.za.

As this year draws to a close we at Eyes Alive would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. May you and your family find peace and joy at this festive time and may 2016 bring you prosperity and good health.

The polishing of an eye prosthesis is essential to the well-being of our prosthetic eye wearing patients. 
Proteins and calcium deposits form on the eye prosthesis' surface and make the eye prosthesis rough, obviously causing an irritation to the conjunctiva.

The material of an ocular prosthesis manufactured at Beryl Carvalho, Eyes Alive, is a conventional heat-curing material, Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA). The material needs to be professionally maintained through high speed buffing with various rubbing and polishing compounds and this needs doing at least annually. When polishing becomes necessary the patient will sometimes feel it. They feel itching and scratching on or in the eye lids; have an increase in discharge or even a feeling that the eye dries out more easily; the eye becomes dull looking; as well as noticing a change in the overall appearance of the eye prosthesis in the socket. This process may develop over time and be so gradual that a patient doesn't really notice it.