Prosthetic eye service transformative for families

It would be easy to assume 19-month-old Louis Kowalewski and 67-year-old Sharon Rowe have nothing in common.

However, the pair are two of about 3400 New Zealanders who wear a prosthetic eye – something you would never guess from looking at them.

For Louis’ parents, Sara and Matt, his prosthetic eye has been life changing and has given them confidence.

Louis was born with microphthalmia, a rare condition where one of his eyes was much smaller than the other.

‘‘It didn’t get picked up on the prenatal scans and so when he was born, we were just shocked and we didn’t really know what was going on,’’ Matt said.

‘‘It was a few days before someone could actually give us a concrete answer of what was going on.’’

The Kowalewskis, based in New Plymouth, were told it was not known what caused the condition.

Early on, Louis was facing surgery under general anaesthetic but that kept getting put off because of Covid.

Eventually the family was connected with Dr Keith Pine, who could help with Louis’ eye without general anaesthetic.

Pine has recently started travelling down to Taranaki from Auckland once a month, working out of Taranaki Eye Centre to help patients who would have otherwise travelled to Waikato.

‘‘In New Zealand about one person in 1440 wears a prosthetic eye, so about 85 people in the Taranaki region,’’ he said.

He estimates he makes about 20 eyes a month.

Usually prosthetic eyes are made by dental technicians as they are made from the same material as dentures: a type of plastic called polymethylmethacrylate.

Louis’ dad Matt said they knew they needed to get something in the toddler’s eye to help with growth as it was about half the size of his other eye. ‘‘They came up with a plan to make clear moulds of his eye which Louis could wear to stretch his eye to the size of the other one.’’

The toddler had 15 of these before he got his final prosthetic eye which was painted with his matching eye colour.

Louis had to have a number of brain scans after birth as microphthalmia can come with other conditions.

But so far he is totally healthy and meeting all his milestones. He loves power tools and anything with wheels.

The parents say Louis is so much more than just his eye and now everyone can see that too.

‘‘I am at home with Louis all the time and I take him out to playgroups and things and people would make comments and I felt like I had to hide him away, it sounds really horrible,’’ Sara said. ‘‘We just don’t want anyone to treat him differently.’’

Sharon Rowe has had a prosthetic right eye since the early 1990s and is currently on her fourth, also made by Pine.

She has developed a pretty wicked sense of humour about it.

She pulls it out at parties and one time it popped out while her daughter was giving her a facial.

Her daughter was shocked but Rowe thought it was hilarious.

‘‘You have got to have a sense of humour,’’ the 67-year-old said. ‘‘There is always someone worse off than you, that is my motto.’’

However, if it wasn’t for her prosthetic, Rowe could have died.

She had been mowing her parents’ lawn when something flicked up and went into her eye.

Rowe was in hospital for a month as doctors tried to save it.

But something went wrong, leading to an infection which was heading for her brain. ‘‘It was take your eye out or die.’’ Rowe now wears the prosthetic 24/7 and only takes it out for cleaning.

She pops the eye in and out like others would a contact lens. The eye matches her eye colour perfectly and even has veins to make it look more realistic.

‘‘I get a bit self-conscious, I still do after all these years but a lot of people don’t notice.

‘‘There is no use feeling sorry for yourself.’’