Walter Reed's Last Ocularist August 15, 2009

As an ocularist, Vincent Przybyla was one of a small number of ocularists trained to make prosthetic eyes. He saw an average of eight patients a day in his shop at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), where he could be found wearing a lab coat covered with plaster and wax. When he died at the age of 61, Przybyla was the only ocularist still employed by the Department of Defense. Soldiers now have their artificial eyes made by prosthodontists in the hospital's dental clinic.