About

a-na-plas-to-lo-gy: The art and science of restoring a malformed or absent part of the human body through artificial means. An anaplastologist makes prosthetic devices. The art and science of the design and fabrication of lifelike restorative prostheses such as finger, hand, nose, face.
-Medicinenet.com. 2012


o-cu-lar-is-try: The general field of ocular prosthetics, specifically all aspects of the custom fitting and fabrication of artificial eyes.
-Dictionary of Terms for Ocularistry. 1994

About PAL

Janet C Chao, BCO, CCA. OWNER of PAL

The vision for Prosthetics Advancement Lab (PAL) was conceived in 2014 by our founder Janet Chao during her apprenticeship in both ocularistry and anaplastology, out of the desire to help advance the small field of facial prosthetics. Over the past few decades, only a handful of university programs have taught facial prosthetics and that number is decreasing. Currently there is no formal institution for training ocularists. An individual must undergo five years of apprenticeship (10,000 hours) in order to qualify for a board exam in ocularistry. The number of Board Certified Ocularists (BCO) in the world is in the hundreds, and fewer than fifty people carry the title of Certified Clinical Anaplastologist (CCA). These are highly trained individuals who have the skills to create a comfortable, aesthetically pleasing facial prosthesis.

While many talented individuals exist within these fields, it is extremely difficult for anaplastologists and ocularists to implement new ideas. Due to the relatively small population they serve, large entities with robust resources are rarely interested in making an investment to improve this field. Most anaplastologists and ocularists lack the support of an academic institution or a hospital and must rely on themselves for professional advancement.

When the volume of patients directly correlates with a facility’s revenue, there can be a desire for clinicians to focus their time on routinely seeing patients. Education, research, and advancing the field are often placed on hold when there is no additional source of funding. At PAL, we make a special effort to prioritize these aspects. From 2014-2017, PAL was an extracurricular entity through which Janet taught medical art workshops locally and did custom projects for clients to support her own continued education.

At the time PAL was founded, Ms. Chao had been apprenticing with a BCO for three and half years. In February 2016, Ms. Chao received board certification status through the National Examining Board of Ocularists. She also received the title of Certified Clinical Anaplastology in June 2016 and (at the time of this certification) was one of fewer than forty CCAs. In 2018, after working as a BCO at Ocular Artists, Inc. for two years, she purchased the practice through PAL. To ensure a continuous effort into the educational and research aspects of the business, the clinical work is limited to three days a week and we devote lots of time and effort into improving our work.

Our History

Although the office is new, our lineage can be traced all the way to the 1800s:

• 1835, Ludwig Müller-Uri The glass blower and maker of doll eyes from Lauscha, Thuringa, Germany pioneered the modern German method of glass eye making for humans

• 1990s, Anna Müller Danz and Gottlieb Theodore Danz, Sr. A descendant of Ludwig Müller-Uri and her husband Gottlieb Theodore Danz, Sr. immigrated to New York City and later moved to San Francisco. Mr. G. Danz, Sr. was a glass eye maker who along with his descendants would establish numerous ocular prosthetics clinics in New York, California, and surrounding states.

• 1940s, Gottlieb Danz, Jr. The shortage of German glass during WWII prompted glass eye makers to search for a different material. Ocularists in the U.S., including Gottlieb Theodore Danz, Sr.’s son Gottlieb Danz II, began making acrylic eyes.

• 1950s-2000s, Phillip A. Danz A son of Gottlieb Danz II and a 7th generation descendant of Ludwig Müller-Uri, Phillip A. Danz established a number of offices in California. Mr. Danz was one of the earliest members of the American Society of Ocularists, which would later establish a formal education program in the 1970s to train new ocularists.

• 2000s-2010s, Eric M. Lindsey One of Mr. Danz’s former apprentices E. Lindsey, now Board Certified Ocularist, purchased “Phillip A. Danz & Associates, Inc.,” which later became “Prosthetic Artists, Inc.” Mr. Lindsey established a second office in Las Vegas called “Ocular Artists, Inc.”

• 2014-2018, Janet Chao Eric M. Lindsey’s apprentice J. Chao formed “Prosthetics Advancement Lab, LLC” in 2014 with the intention of fulfilling a void in the education and research aspects of ocular and facial prosthetics. In 2016 Ms. Chao became Board Certified in both ocularistry and anaplastology. On August 1, 2018, “Prosthetics Advancement Lab, LLC” purchased “Ocular Artists, Inc.”

• 2020 On April 1, 2020, we moved to the current location, doubling the size of the previous office. This allowed us to expand our regular services to include silicone maxillofacial prosthetics.

Media

• Jan. 24, 2022, Science Lives podcast, episode 35 https://sciencelivespodcast.buzzsprout.com/1378132/9942893-janet-chao-ocularist-and-anaplastologist

• Feb. 2, 2021, brief appearance in E:60, episode Alive: The Drew Robinson Story and mentioned in the article version of the same story https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30800732/san-francisco-giants-outfielder-drew-robinson-remarkable-second-act

• Nov. 7, 2016, Las Vegas Review Journal https://www.reviewjournal.com/life/health/las-vegan-wants-to-educate-others-about-prosthetic-eyes/

Owner’s Background:

Past Internships

Smithsonian Institute (7/2009-10/2009)
Denoyer-Geppert (2/2009-5/2009)
California Academy of Sciences (9/2006-7/2007)
Scientific American (5/2006-7/2006)

Publications

Cramer, N., Chao, J., Tollefson, T. T., Teodorescu, M. (2015). Analysis of Contact Mechanics and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic Simulations of Viscoelastic Polymer Sine Waves. Proceedings of the ASME 2015 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, August 2-5, 2015, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/proceeding.aspx?articleid=2483570

Ledgerwood, L. G., Chao, J., Tollefson, T. T. (2014). Prosthetic Reconstruction of Complicated Auricular Defects: Use of a Hybrid Prosthetic Fabrication Technique. JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, 16(2), 153-154. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamafacialplasticsurgery/article-abstract/1784243