"WALTER REED'S LAST OCULARIST" OPENS AT MUSEUM "EXHIBIT CLOSED JUNE 30, 2008"    Vincent A. Przybyla, Jr. “Photo courtesy of Michael Dukes, Stripe newspaper.” "A new exhibit, "Walter Reed's Last Ocularist," recently closed at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, featuring artifacts used during the 38-year career of Vincent A. Przybyla, Jr." As an ocularist, Przybyla (pronounced SHA-be-wha in Polish and Priz-i-bella in English) 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. He was known not only for his unique skill and technical expertise, but for his charisma and kindness to patients. 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. Adrianne Noe, Ph.D.,the museum’s director, with Vincent A. Przybyla, III, son of the ocularist. An opening ceremony for the exhibit was held at the museum on Feb. 15 with former colleagues and members of the family in attendance. "Although his patient's satisfaction with his work was always enough for him, I think that my father would be honored -- is honored -- to discover that his life's work has climbed to heights worthy enough to share with both the military and general public," said his son, Vincent A. Przybyla III. The modern prosthetic eye, made of acrylic plastic, was developed by a U.S. Army dentist during World War II after the German government stopped exporting glass eyes to the United States. As an ocularist Przybyla used calipers, cutters, and assorted other tools to cut and shape the wax pattern of the artificial eye. Using oil paints and brushes to color the iris and red string to look like blood vessels, the ocularist would duplicate the variations of the 6 different basic eye colors by hand-painting the artificial eye to match the color, form, and appearance of the surviving eye. Col. William Rimm, chief of ophthalmology services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, speaks about the life of Vincent A. Przybyla, Jr., at the opening reception. According to a 1976 article in American Medical News, a weekly newspaper published by the American Medical Association, Przybyla became interested in eye making as a young man while working in a plastics plant in Detroit, and enrolled in a 5 1/2-year apprenticeship program that included anatomy and art courses. A 1994 article in the magazine "Soldier," explained that only weeks after finishing the program he was drafted into the Army in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War and was transferred from Fort Knox to WRAMC when the head of ophthalmology at the hospital learned of his special skills. Przybyla served four years as a soldier at WRAMC and then continued as a civilian employee there until his death from a heart attack on July 12, 2005. The National Museum of Health and Medicine was established in 1862 when U.S. Army Brig. Gen. William Alexander Hammond, the U.S. Army Surgeon General, issued orders that directed all Union Army medical officers "to collect, and to forward to the office of the Surgeon General all specimens of morbid anatomy, surgical or medical, which may be regarded as valuable; together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed, and such other matters as may prove of interest in the study of military medicine or surgery." Today, the museum is an element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, a tri-service Army, Navy, and Air Force agency of the Department of Defense with a threefold mission of consultation, education, and research. The museum is open every day except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. It is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. and Elder Street, NW, Washington, D.C. More information can be found on the web site at www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum and the telephone number is 202-782-2200. Admission and parking are free.