Artificial Eye Wax

This sample of artificial eye wax is used to create a detailed model of the replacement eye. Special prosthetists called ocularists start by taking an alginate cast of your socket, followed by a wax version that can be tested in the socket. The ocularist positions the iris and perfects the shape of the wax version by melting, carving and smoothing it. Once they are sure that your gaze looks right and your artificial eye moves in symmetry with your natural eye, a glass or acrylic resin version is made.

This is possible because wax is biocompatible, malleable, low melt and receptive to fine detail. As a result it has been used in and on the body for a very long time. There is some evidence from Slovenia to suggest that it was also used as an early dental filling around 6500 years. In medicine, bone wax has been used to prevent excess bleeding during orthopaedic surgery, and lanolin has been used for medicine delivery because it is readily absorbed by the skin, transporting substances like nicotine, oestrogen and hydrocortisone along with it. 

Wax’s similarity to human flesh has made it one of the best materials for mimicking human skin in theatrical prosthetics and waxwork models of famous people: our sample of Tussaud's casting wax is a special blend of paraffin wax, beeswax and sometimes sumac wax.

Check out our blog post for a longer read about the weird and wonderful properties of waxes, including beeswax (the glandular produce of the humble honeybee), earth wax that is mined from seams in the ground and Renaissance wax that used to protect Barbara Hepworth’s monumental bronze sculptures.