In pictures: Eye-maker Gerhard Greiner’s workshop

Published on 14/12/2012 13:17

A GERMAN ocularist - or eye-maker - has given an incredible behind-the-scenes look at the way he painstakingly crafts his bespoke prosthetic eyes.

Gerhard Greiner creates hand-blown glass eyes which are unique to each of his clients. The ocularist, based in Munich, takes up to an hour to match the colour of their natural eyes and create detailed reproductions of their vein structure. His clinic produces prosthetics for individuals who have lost an eye due to injury, illness or accidents.

Greiner’s prosthetics are hollow half-spheres which either fit over a non-functioning eye, or over a surgically-inserted ball which is attached to the eye muscles, and are said to be so realistic that it is impossible to tell with the naked eye that they are not the real thing. Each eye costs around £280 (€350). Artificial eyes are believed to have orginated in 2800 BC, in what is now Iran, with the first in-socket prosthetic created in Venice in the 16th Century.

Watch our photo slideshow for a glimpse of Greiner’s shop and the incredible false eyes he creates.