From glitter to leopard print,  Portland ocularist Christina King gives prosthetic eyes a new life

An ocularist is “a medical specialist trained in designing, fitting and forming fabricated eyes,” according to Johns Hopkins University, and its practitioners exist in medicine “where art and ophthalmology meet.” But Portland-based ocularist Christina King—nicknamed “Christina Oculara” by a patient, after Christina Aguilera—stands out. At her practice, the Center for Ocular Prosthetics, she makes standard eyes, but she also makes what she calls “fun eyes,” that incorporate designs, glitter, patterns, drawings, and so much more.

King had an art background, having studied Industrial Design and Technology at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. In fact, it was in college that she first learned what an ocularist was. As children’s eyesight advocacy organization Know the Glowshares, King was in an art history class at the Art Institute when her classmate showed her her own prosthesis, and sent her to an ocularist to learn more. King was so excited about the work that she made it her career. After becoming board certified, she worked in hospitals and with leading ocularists, eventually arriving in Portland and training under its previous owner, Fred Harwin. King now owns the practice.

While it’s standard practice for ocularists to make matching eyes, King was interested in expanding possibilities for her clients and for herself. She met social media influencer Rachel Mackenzlee, who was herself looking for a prosthetic eye that was more unconventional; a golden eye. When Rachel shared King's finished product on her social media accounts, King quickly saw many other people wanted them, too. And not just locally, either, but on an international scale.

One of these people was writer, stylist, and fashion editor Belle Bakst. Bakst found Mackenzlee on social media and journeyed to King’s Portland practice for both a standard eye and “fun eye” fitting. She discussed the experience in Allure Magazine. “Having a fun eye gave me back my body autonomy, and liberated me from the confines of the more traditional beauty standard I had been chasing, and that I could not obtain,” Bakst wrote. “After a lifetime of doing my best to blend in, I’m finally embracing how good it feels to stand out.”

And Bakst wasn’t the only one. A young girl named Gracie also reached out to Mackenzlee on social media, and she was so touched she called on her social media following to raise funds for King to create Gracie’s eye. In the end, so much money was raised that not only were they able to get Gracie a fun eye, they were able to get two other people fun eyes as well.

Seeing the success right in front of them, Mackenzlee and King created the Fun Eye Fund which raises money for people to have fun eyes of their own. This helps people who also don’t have an ocularist near them who would create a fun eye, because many won’t. “The idea of a fun eye isn’t the industry standard, as our paints are very hard to work with and take even more dedication to create than the standard prosthesis,” King wrote on CanvasRebel. “This fundraiser was created after seeing just how many other one-eye wearers were interested in fun eyes after seeing Rachel’s page, who either couldn’t afford a fun eye or who didn’t have an ocularist willing to create one in their area.”

King’s work as an ocularist for both standard and fun prosthetic eyes continues and she was recently profiled in The New York Times. She sees the fun eyes as another way to empower those who may have endured trauma that led to the eye’s removal in the first place. “It allows the wearer to choose when the public can view the difference and gives the user bodily autonomy back,” she wrote. “Most clients who have requested one break down with happy tears when they finally see a dream they once had come true.”