Medical Oncologist
CION Cancer Clinics
Caring for an artificial eye | CION Cancer Clinics
Caring for an artificial eye is mostly about leaving it alone. Most people clean it gently with clean water or saline only when needed, wash their hands before touching it, and keep the lids clean every day. The person who made it polishes it at regular reviews. This page covers removing, cleaning and refitting the eye, daily life with it, and the signs that need a check. CION Cancer Clinics’ surgical oncologists in Hyderabad can talk this through with you.
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Medically reviewed by Dr. Muralidhar MuddusettyConsultant Surgical Oncologist · MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery, AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh) · last reviewed September 2026, next review due September 2027
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On this page
- How do you look after an artificial eye?
- How do you take it out, clean it and put it back?
- What about sleeping, bathing, swimming and travel?
- What do people get wrong about caring for an artificial eye?
- What should you keep at home?
- When does the eye need polishing, refitting or replacing?
- Common questions about caring for an artificial eye
The short answer
How do you look after an artificial eye?
Handle it as little as you can. Clean your lids and lashes every day, and take the eye out to clean it only as often as your team advises. Taking it out too often is one of the commonest causes of a sore, sticky socket.
Why less is usually more
The socket is lined with moist, delicate tissue, much like the inside of your eyelid. Each time the eye comes out, that lining is rubbed and exposed to the air. The smooth surface of the shell also picks up tiny scratches each time it is handled. Some people rarely need to remove it, while others with more mucus need to do so more often.
What a healthy socket looks like
A little clear or white mucus in the corner of the eye, mostly in the morning, is normal. The lining should look pink and moist. The eye should sit comfortably and not feel gritty when you blink.
Who this routine does not suit
If you have had radiotherapy to the area, a very dry socket or a skin graft in the socket, your team may give you different advice. Follow theirs over any general guide, including this one.
Never use spirit, hand sanitiser, household cleaners or tissue paper on the shell. They damage the acrylic and irritate the socket.Step by step
How do you take it out, clean it and put it back?
Get ready
Wash your hands well. Sit at a table with a soft towel spread out, or stand over a sink with the plug in, so the eye cannot fall and chip. Keep clean water or saline in a clean bowl.
Take it out
Look up and gently pull the lower lid down. The lower edge of the shell comes forward and slides out over the lid. Some people find a small suction cup easier, and your ocularist can show you how.
Clean the shell
Rinse it under clean running water or in saline, rubbing lightly with your fingers. Use mild unperfumed soap only if your ocularist allows it, and rinse every trace away. Pat dry with a cloth that leaves no fluff.
Clean the lids
Wipe the closed lids from the nose outwards with cooled boiled water and cotton wool. Do not push anything into the socket unless you have been shown how.
Put it back
Wet the shell and hold it the right way up, as your ocularist showed you. Lift the upper lid, slide the top edge under it, then pull the lower lid down so the shell settles behind it.
Not sure whether this applies to you?
Ask an oncologistEveryday life
What about sleeping, bathing, swimming and travel?
Most of ordinary life goes on with the eye in place. A few situations need a little planning.
Sleeping
Most people keep the eye in overnight. Taking it out every night usually causes more irritation than it prevents. If you do remove it, store it clean and dry in a labelled case, never loose on a bedside table.
Bathing and head baths
Close your eyes when water, shampoo or oil runs over your face. Soap and oil are the usual cause of stinging. Pat the lids dry afterwards rather than rubbing them.
Swimming
Swim goggles keep the eye in and pool water out. In the sea, a river or a lake, the eye can be lost if water hits your face hard, so wear goggles or keep your head above water.
Travel and festivals
Dust, cracker smoke and long bus journeys all dry the socket.
Pack for trips
- The storage case and a small bottle of saline
- Lubricating drops, if prescribed for you
- Wraparound sunglasses against dust
!
When the socket needs checking the same day
Contact your eye team or go to an eye emergency service the same day if the socket becomes painful, the lids swell shut, there is thick yellow or green discharge with a bad smell, the implant seems to show through the pink lining, or you have a fever with a red, hot eye area. Do not put leftover antibiotic drops or home remedies into the socket before you have been seen.
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Commonly believed
What do people get wrong about caring for an artificial eye?
"It should be taken out and scrubbed every day."
Daily removal and scrubbing wears the shell and irritates the socket. Most people do better with gentle cleaning only when needed. If discharge makes you feel you must clean it daily, that is a reason to see your team.
"Boiling it will make it properly clean."
Heat can warp or crack medical acrylic and ruin the fit. Clean water, saline or the solution your ocularist names is enough. The shell needs to be clean, and it does not need to be sterile.
"Discharge means the cancer has come back."
Mucus from the socket is almost always about the lining, a dry surface or a scratched shell. It is very rarely linked to the cancer. Get it checked so the cause can be treated, and raise it at your cancer follow-up if it worries you.
"Once it is fitted, you never need to go back."
The surface needs polishing, and the fit needs checking as the socket changes. Skipped reviews are a common reason for increasing discharge and a dull look years later.
At home
What should you keep at home?
- A clean, labelled storage case
- Saline, or the cleaning solution your ocularist named
- Soft, fluff-free cloths for drying the shell
- Cotton wool and cooled boiled water for the lids
- A small suction cup, if you were taught to use one
- Lubricating drops, only if prescribed for you
- The ocularist's phone number, written down
- Protective glasses for your remaining eye
Longer term
When does the eye need polishing, refitting or replacing?
Your ocularist sets the timing. Polishing is a routine visit. A new shell is needed when the fit or surface no longer holds up, and children are refitted as they grow.
Polishing
Protein from tears slowly builds up on the surface, and tiny scratches collect. A professional polish restores the smooth, shiny surface that the socket lining tolerates well. Many people notice less mucus and a brighter look afterwards.
Signs it may need replacing
A shell that keeps falling out, sits differently, rubs, stays dull after polishing, or has a crack or chip needs to be looked at. Adult sockets also change over the years, long after healing.
What this page cannot tell you
It cannot tell you how often your own eye should come out, which products suit your socket, or when yours needs replacing. Those depend on your surgery, any radiotherapy and how your socket behaves. Ask your ocularist to write your routine down, and take it to every review.
Questions we are asked
Common questions about caring for an artificial eye
How often should I take my artificial eye out to clean it?
As rarely as your ocularist advises. Many people clean it only when mucus builds up or it feels uncomfortable. Removing it daily tends to irritate the socket and scratch the shell. If it seems to need cleaning more and more often, book a review rather than cleaning harder.
What can I clean it with?
Clean running water or saline works for most people, with a fluff-free cloth to dry it. Mild unperfumed soap may be allowed if rinsed off fully. Avoid spirit, sanitiser, toothpaste and household cleaners. They damage the acrylic surface and can badly sting the socket afterwards.
Is some discharge normal?
A small amount of clear or white mucus, mostly in the morning, is normal. Thick yellow or green discharge, a bad smell, swelling or pain is not, and needs a same-day check. Discharge that slowly increases over weeks usually means the shell needs polishing or refitting.
What should I do if the eye falls out?
Pick it up carefully, rinse it in clean water or saline, check it for chips and put it back with clean hands. If it is cracked or will not stay in, keep it in its case and contact your ocularist. An eye that keeps falling out usually needs a refit.
Can I put eye drops into the socket?
Only drops your doctor or ocularist has suggested for you. Lubricating drops can help a dry socket. Do not use leftover antibiotic or steroid drops, or anyone else's, and do not start any drop on your own. Some can hide an infection or irritate the lining.
Can I sleep with the artificial eye in?
Yes, most people do. Keeping it in overnight protects the socket and avoids extra handling. If your team has asked you to remove it at night for a particular reason, follow that advice and store the eye clean and dry in its case.
My father's hands shake. How can he manage cleaning?
A family member can learn the steps at a fitting visit, and a suction cup often makes removal easier. Working over a folded towel prevents drops and chips. If handling stays hard, ask whether cleaning can be done less often and checked at each review.
Who pays for polishing and a replacement eye?
It depends on your cover. Aarogyasri, CGHS, ECHS, EHS and cashless insurance each treat the artificial eye and later refits differently. Some include it with the surgery and some do not. Call the helpline with your card or policy details and we will help you find out.
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Dr. C. Raghavendra Reddy
MBBS(Gold Medal), DNB(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Gold Medal)
Medical Oncologist
Dr. Bharati Devi Gorantla
MBBS, MD(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Adyar,Chennai), ECMO, MRCP SCE(UK)
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Dr. Owais Mohammed
MBBS, MD (General Medicine), DrNB (Medical Oncology), ECMO, MRCP SCE (Medical Oncology) (UK)
Medical Oncologist
Medical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Muralidhar Muddusetty
MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery) (AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh)
Surgical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Vinay Mamidala
MBBS, MS(General Surgery), M.Ch(Surgical Oncology), FMAS, FARIS(Ongoing)
Surgical Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Hematologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Vajja Sandeep Kumar
MBBS, MS (General Surgery), DrNB (Surgical Oncology), FALS Oncology
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Sources
- Cancer Research UK — Surgery for eye cancer
- American Cancer Society — Surgery for Eye Cancer
- NHS — Eye cancer
- National Cancer Institute — Eye Cancer
This page is general information, not a prescription. Do not change or stop any treatment based on what you read here. If anything is worrying you, contact your own treating team — or call our helpline and we will help you reach the right specialist.
Keep reading
Related pages
The Orbital Implant and Artificial EyeWhat sits in the socket and how it is fittedHow Natural Does an Artificial Eye Look?What affects the look, and what can be improvedComplications and Red FlagsWarning signs after any cancer operationCost of Enucleation and Prosthesis in HyderabadIndicative ranges and what schemes cover
Talk to us
Is the socket sore or the eye not sitting right?
Call the helpline and tell us what you are noticing. We will help you reach the right person to check it. One helpline serves every CION centre.